Binding Choices
by CelticKitsune
Summary: Harry knew his life was going to change the moment he got his Hogwarts letter, but as second year comes to a close, with four new friends by his side, his life is never going to be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Harry gasped for breath as he pushed his short skinny legs to run faster, his feet pounding on the stone floor and splashing through the water giving away his position to the large snake that was following him. He had no idea how he was going to get away from it long enough to come up with a plan on how to beat it, nor how he would even beat it before it had a chance to eat him.

Harry yelped as he was suddenly grabbed from behind and dragged into a small alcove that he hadn't noticed before, but the sound was cut off as a hand pressed firmly against his mouth.

"Shh," someone whispered in his ear and Harry froze; he had no idea that anyone other than Ginny, Riddle and the Basilisk was down there with him. His mind was working a mile a minute, trying to figure out who it was behind him, but he had no idea, unless Ron had managed to get out and get help. Harry's thoughts came to a halt when he heard the snake close by, and he pressed back more firmly against the person behind him as the large creature slithered by.

Tense moments passed and finally the hand was lowered from his mouth. "You okay?" someone asked and Harry turned to face his rescuer. His eyes widened and a hand was pressed over his mouth again. "Don't scream," the 'person' said quickly. "I know I surprised you, but screaming is not in our best interest at the moment,"

Harry lifted his hands up and gently pulled down the three fingered hand away from his mouth. "...what ARE you?" he asked in a soft whisper.

"I thought that would be pretty obvious; I'm a turtle, my name is Donatello," the large olive green turtle said, keeping his voice just as soft. "We can talk more later, but right now I need you to stay here and stay quiet while me and my brothers go and deal with our large friend out there," Donatello said, waiting for Harry to nod his head slowly. However, as the turtle moved to hurry away, Harry grabbed him by the belt, stopping him.

"Wait, what about Ginny?" Harry asked.

"We'll help her once this snake is dead," Donatello reassured him and Harry bit his lip but let the turtle go. He wasn't too happy with just sitting there and waiting while some strange, talking creature fought his battle, but there wasn't much else he could do, at least not while the Basilisk was still out there.

Harry leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor keeping as quiet as he could so he could possibly hear anything that was going on.

To his credit he sat there for nearly fifteen minutes until the feeling of being useless overwhelmed him and he found himself standing and slowly slipping out of the small alcove that the talking turtle, Donatello, had put him in. Making sure it was all clear, Harry slowly made his way back down through the tunnel, heading back in the direction that he had come from. As he got closer to the main room he could hear the sounds of fighting, and people shouting. He didn't recognise any of them, except perhaps Tom Riddle.

"You disgusting freaks! You truly think you can take down my pet?" Tom said, laughing loudly.

Harry inched himself closer to the entrance and looked into the room, his eyes going wide when he saw the Basilisk, and not one, but four of those giant turtles. Each of them had a weapon of some kind and they were attacking the giant snake as though they had done things like this before.

"This isn't workin'!" one of the turtles shouted as he had tried to hit the snake, only to have his weapons bounce off without leaving a single mark on the large creature.

Harry frowned as he watched them, his eyes leaving the fight for a moment to drift over to where Ginny was lying on the ground, looking more pale than she had been before. Harry felt sick as he stared at her lifeless body, his best friend's little sister. He thought of Ron stuck back in the tunnel with the unconscious and even-more-useless-than-before Lockheart, and he pictured the look on the red-head's face if he had to go back and tell him that Ginny was dead. Harry had dealt with a lot of hard things in his life, but that was one thing he never wanted to do.

A new determination burned inside him and he was moving forward before he even stopped to think, rushing out into the large room. The Basilisk must have heard him because in the next moment it was ignoring the turtles and diving straight for him instead, making Harry very glad that Fawkes had already blinded the creature.

"What the shell, kid!" one of the turtles yelled as Harry dove out of the way, grabbing the sorting hat that still lay on the ground, the sword of Gryffindor falling out into his hand as he rolled out of the way of the large snake trying to attack him. The four turtles were there then, one of them lifting Harry up carrying him out of harm's way, while the other three shouted and started attacking the snake again.

"Put me down!" Harry demanded. He wasn't expecting to be practically dropped.

"Stay out of the way, kid," the turtle said and was rushing back to the other three. Harry just sat there and stared after him, his hand still gripping the sword of Gryffindor. Deciding that the four turtles had the Basilisk in hand for now, Harry turned his attention instead toward Tom Riddle, who was watching him closely.

"The Boy Who Lived, returning to watch his friend die," Tom said as he smirked at him.

"Not quite, Tom," Harry said, standing back to his feet and holding the sword out in front of him.

"Do you think a silly little weapon like that can hurt me, child?" Tom laughed.

Harry gripped the sword tighter but made no move to attack; Tom might be real enough, but he still wasn't alive either, his very existence came from the diary. Harry's eyes widened for a moment, his attention darting toward the diary that lay next to Ginny. He had no idea if this was actually going to work or not, but it was the only option he had at the moment to save Ginny. Darting forward as quickly as he could, Harry heard Tom's laughter stop suddenly when he seemed to realise what it was that Harry was trying to do.

"No!" Tom shouted, but Harry was faster and he managed to reach the diary and grab it just as Tom made a dive toward him. Harry cried out as he was tackled to the ground, the sword and the book flying out of his hands and sliding a few feet away. Cold hand wrapped around his neck and Harry was now struggling to get Tom off of him as his air was cut off.

"Booyakasha!" The weight was suddenly off of Harry's body. Not stopping to see what had happened exactly, Harry scurried to his feet, grabbing the sword and plunging it into the diary hoping that his hunch was right. The sword sank into the diary and the next moment the whole chamber was filled with an inhuman scream that seemed to be coming from both Tom and the diary at the same time. Pulling the sword out, Harry plunged it in again, another scream filled the chamber as ink started spilling out of the diary onto the floor. (1)

Harry turned his attention toward Tom, seeing holes starting to appear in the other boy's appearance before Tom vanished completely.

"Dude! Did you just kill a ghost?" the turtle that had saved him asked, looking truly amazed by the very idea. Harry turned his attention toward this one, blinking slowly as he realised that this turtle wasn't the one that had helped him get away from the Basilisk earlier, that one had been wearing a purple mask, while this one had on an orange one, and his skin was more of a light green.

"I... don't think it was a ghost," Harry said, looking down at the diary that was still slowly leaking ink onto the floor. A loud thud drew Harry's attention toward where the other three turtles were now standing around a very dead Basilisk.

"Totally awesome, dudes!" the orange-banded turtle said, hurrying over to where the other three were standing, only to be smacked upside the head by the one in a red mask. Harry stood by watching the four of them interact.

"Way ta abandon us, Mikey!" the turtle in red snapped.

"Sorry, bro! But the little dude was in trouble!" Mikey said, pointing in the direction of Harry.

Harry thought it was a little unfair that this turtle was calling him short, as they both seemed to be about the same size, but his attention turned to the red-banded turtle who had turned his glare toward him.

"Then maybe he should have stayed where Donnie had told him to!"

"Enough, Raph," the blue masked turtle said as he stepped forward. Harry blinked as this turtle approached him. "Are you okay?" the blue-banded turtle asked.

Harry nodded slowly. "I am," he said before his eyes widened and his attention quickly turned toward the still unconscious redhead. "Ginny!" Harry ran over to her, kneeling next to her. "Ginny?" he asked, reaching out to touch her hand, letting out a small sigh of relief when it felt warmer than it had when he first found her. Harry looked up when he saw someone kneel on the opposite side of Ginny.

Donatello didn't look at Harry right away, his focus on the unconscious girl in front of him. He gently shifted her so she was lying flat on her back, in this position it was easier for Donatello to examine her vitals. Harry watched with silent curiosity as the olive-green turtle worked.

"She's going to be fine," Donatello said after a few moments. "Her color is coming back, and her pulse is strong," he said, looking at Harry, who visibly relaxed, giving Donatello a grateful smile.

"Now that that is out of the way, what the shell were you thinking, brat?" the red-banded turtle demanded and Harry blinked up at him in confusion, not quite understanding why this turtle was so angry at him. Raph made a noise of frustration. "I mean runnin' out here like ya did! You could'a been killed!"

"I couldn't just let Ginny die!" Harry snapped back, standing up so that he would be closer to eye level with this creature, though Harry was sill a couple inches shorter than the emerald green turtle, he didn't let the slight height difference bother him, standing his ground.

"Leave him alone, Raph," the forest green turtle with the blue mask ordered.

Raph growled in annoyance at his brother. "But, Leo…"

"I said leave him alone," Leo said, cutting him off. "This is obviously someone important to him, asking him to sit by and wait while she was in danger was clearly something he couldn't live with," Leo said before looking back down at Harry, who watched as Raph did as he was told, much to Harry's surprise. Harry was very curious about these creatures, and where they had come from. And before he knew it he had opened his mouth and asked the first question that came to mind.

"Who ARE you?" Harry asked looking up at Leo, noticing that this emerald green turtle seemed to be about the same height as Raph.

"I believe I have already introduced myself," Donatello said, smiling at Harry, who nodded his head.

"Don... Dona... erm..." Harry blushed a bit at not remembering the turtle's name.

"Donatello; you can just call me Donnie, or Don if you like," the purple masked turtle smiled and then pointed to each of the other turtles. "This here is Leonardo, or Leo if you rather; then the angry one there is Raphael-"

"You can just call him hot headed jerk!" the smallest turtle interrupted laughing as he ducked out of the way from Raph who had taken a swing at the hyper active turtle.

"And that is Michelangelo, though we call him Mikey," Donnie said and Harry could only nod his head slowly.

"Four talking turtles..." Harry said.

"Naw dude, four talking NINJA turtles," Mikey corrected him happily.

"Ninja?" Harry tilted his head curiously.

"We have been taught the art of Ninjutsu since we were little," Leo informed him.

"Okay... so what are... um... Ninja Turtles, doing in Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"That is a rather long story, I think would be best saved for another time. Right now we should work on getting you and your friend out of here," Leo said as he gently lifted up the still unconscious Ginny.

"Um, my friend got stuck back there in a cave in, I don't know any other way out of here than through there," Harry admitted, pointing back toward the tunnel that he had come through before.

"Alright, we'll have to split up then, Donnie and I can take your friend back up to the main part of the castle, we know a couple ways out from here; Raph and Mikey can take you back to the cave in and help dig your friend out. Or if he has his own way back up to the castle, tell him to take it and then Raph will show you another way up," Leo said.

"Why do I get stuck babysitting?" Raph complained.

"It ain't that bad, bro!" Mikey said putting an arm around Raph's shoulder. "Think of this as another magical adventure!"

"I'm getting sick and tired of all these 'adventures' of yours," Raph said as he removed Mikey's arm from around his shoulder and looked toward Harry. "You know where your friend is, so lead the way," he ordered.

Harry sighed, looking over toward Leo, who was still holding Ginny. He wasn't sure if he could trust these turtles or not, but they had helped take down the Basilisk, and were offering to help not only him and Ginny, but they were also willing to back track to the cave in to let Ron know that things were alright and he could go back up to the castle. The only thing that Harry knew for sure what this was by far the weirdest thing he had ever seen in Hogwarts.

"Alright, little dude! Lead the way!" Mikey said, grinning at Harry. The small twelve-year-old blinked up at him before nodding; Harry picked up the diary and shoved it in his pocket, retrieving his wand from where it had landed on the floor, sword still held tightly in his hand, Harry lead the way back through the tunnels

"Maybe ya should let me hold that sword, kid," Raphael said and Harry paused, looking over his shoulder at the turtle with the red mask.

"I've got it," Harry said, holding the sword a little tighter, half expecting one of them to try and take it from him.

"You even know how ta use that thing?" Raph asked and Harry shrugged his shoulder.

"I don't plan on using it, but it doesn't belong down here, and it was entrusted to me, so I just think I should be the one to carry it back," Harry said.

"I saw you pull that sword out of that weird cloth hat, dude, you know any other magic tricks?" Mikey asked before Raph could say anything else.

"Uh... I know some magic; I don't know if any of it could be counted tricks though..." Harry admitted softly.

"What, you some kind of magician now, kid?" Raph snorted in amusement.

"A wizard actually," Harry said, frowning when he heard a snort of laughter come from the red-banded turtle. "Yeah, because magic, wizards and witches is so much harder to believe than four walking talking turtles," Harry said.

"He's got you there, dude!" Mike laughed, wrapping an arm around Raph's neck, grinning even as the other turtle let out an angry growl.

Harry continued leading them through the tunnel until he reached the cave in again. It seemed as though Ron had made some decent progress and there was now a small opening at the top. "Ron!" Harry called out, scrambling up the rocks so he could look through the hole.

"Harry? That you?" Ron asked and Harry saw a few more rocks being shifted away from the opening, before Ron's face appeared in his line of site. "Did you get Ginny?" Ron asked quickly.

"She's safe," Harry assured him.

Ron let out a small sigh, obviously relieved that his sister was safe. "What about the snake?"

"It's dead," Harry said.

"Come on, kid, I ain't got all day!" Raph snapped, gaining Harry's attention again. Harry glanced behind him while Ron shifted, trying to see through the hole better.

"Who's that with you?" Ron asked.

"Long story," Harry said turning back to look at Ron. "Look, you and Lockheart head back up to the castle, I've got another way out," Harry said, and before Ron could protest, or ask any more questions, Harry turned and climbed back down to where Raph and Mikey were still waiting.

"Follow me, bro, I remember the way!" Mikey said, grinning widely as he took off back through the tunnel.

"Slow down, shell for brains!" Raph yelled after him, but Mikey was already gone. "Let's go, and try ta keep up," Raph ordered, glancing at Harry. Raph took off as well, and Harry was forced to jog in order to keep up with him. Though Raph kept slowing down making sure he never actually lost Harry in the maze of tunnels. Neither of them said anything until they came to what looked like a dead end.

"How good are ya at climbing?" Raph asked as Harry came to stand next to him. Frowning, Harry looked up and saw a steep slope that looked similar to the one he and Ron had jumped down earlier.

"I'm pretty good I suppose," Harry said.

"I can carry ya if you don't think that you can make it," Raph said, turning to fully face Harry.

Harry looked at the slope again before nodding. "I can make it, as long as there's something for me to grab onto," Harry said and Raph nodded his head.

"You go up first then." Raph gestured for Harry to start climbing. Harry sighed, pulling his robe off so that it wouldn't snag on anything while he climbed, taking the fabric and wrapping it around the sword of Gryffindor. "Might be easier if you let me carry that thing up," Raph said. "Climbing with a sword that big ain't gonna be easy." Raph watched as Harry considered this for a moment before handing it over to the red-banded turtle.

"Alright, kid, get up there," Raph said.

"I've got a name you know," Harry said as he started climbing up the slope.

"Well, ain't like you told any of us what it is yet," Raph pointed out, waiting until Harry was a little way up before he too started climbing, making sure to stay right behind Harry just in case he lost his footing.

"It's Harry," he replied.

"I think I'll just keep calling ya kid," Raph said, his mouth pulling into half a grin.

"I would rather you didn't" Harry said flatly, and Raph picked up on the bitterness in the tone of voice Harry had used, but now wasn't the time or place to question him about it, not that it was even any of Raph's business to begin with.

It took a good fifteen minutes before Harry reached the top, and before he could pull himself up and out of the hole, a green three fingered hand grabbed him and pulled him up the rest of the way.

"Took you long enough, bro," Mikey said with a cheeky grin as he helped Harry up and made sure he was steady on his feet before looking down to see Raph pulling himself out of the hole.

"It's because you ran off and left us back there, idiot," Raph snapped as he stood up and brushed off his knee pads before turning a glare toward the smaller turtle. Mikey let out a small squeak before ducking behind Harry to hide, which would have been effective if Mikey hadn't been a turtle, and therefore wider than Harry was.

Harry blinked back at Mikey, who smiled at him. Harry found it a little strange; he had never met anyone before that was just so… happy, it was a little strange to him. "Um...what are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Human shield, bro," Mikey said innocently. Harry blinked before looking back at Raph almost nervously. "Don't worry, Raphie wouldn't hit you, you're too small," Mike said and Harry wondered if that was supposed to be reassuring or not.

"He's obviously okay with trying to hit you, and you're the same height as me!" Harry pointed out looking back at Mikey, who blinked and stood up straight as if just realising that he and Harry were actually the same height.

"Nope, you're still shorter than I am!" Mikey said putting his hand on top of Harry's head flattening down the wild black hair. Harry really didn't see any height difference between the two of them, and opened his mouth to argue back but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Just give it up, kid, you ain't gonna win this argument," Raph said, sounding as if he was speaking from experience.

"Can we just go now? I want to make sure Ginny really is okay, and we still have to catch up with Ron, and find the teachers and let them know what happened," Harry said.

"Hold up a minute, kid," Raph said ignoring the glare that Harry was giving him. "Mikey and I ain't going with you from here, just go down that tunnel there and you should be back in the castle proper. Somewhere in the dungeons, I think," Raph said.

"Do you even know how much of a maze the dungeons are?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Course we do, dude," Mikey said. "We've been here since mid-August," the orange-banded turtle told him. "We know our way around the dungeons easily; they're nowhere near being the maze that the New York sewers are."

"Look, just show me the way out of the dungeons, and then you can go back to... whatever you were doing," Harry said.

"Sure thing!" Mikey said, taking Harry's hand and started pulling him along. Raph was forced to follow or be left behind. "I know a shortcut, though master Splinter may be upset if we actually go all the way up into the main part of the castle; I can show you to the rooms we've been staying in though, that might be where Leo and Donnie took your girlfriend," Mikey said as he continued leading Harry along.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Harry said quickly. "She's my best friend's little sister," he explained.

"Whatever you say, dude," Mikey said and continued pulling Harry along with him making their way through the maze of halls that lead through the dungeons, and Harry was fairly sure that they were most likely lost, until Mikey came to an abrupt halt outside a door that could have been easily missed if you didn't know it was there. Pushing open the door, Mikey lead Harry inside; Raph followed, closing the door behind them.

Harry looked around the dimly lit room, frowning when he saw a figure sitting on the floor, a couple candles lined up in front of him, but even that little bit of light didn't really allow Harry to see the face of the person sat there, if it was a person at all.

"Welcome back, my sons," the figure spoke. "I take it this is the young boy that Leonardo mentioned?"

"Hai Sensei," Mikey replied. "This is Harry," Mike said, turning to look at Harry, who was still looking at the shadowed figure as it stood. A moment later the room seemed to be filled with light, and Harry could see now who had been speaking. The large rat smiled gently at him, and Harry could only stare.

"Hello, Harry. I am Hamato Yoshi, though you may call me Splinter," the rat greeted.

"Uh... hi," Harry said, back looking toward Mikey when the orange-banded turtle snickered.

"What?" Harry asked frowning, unsure of what was amusing.

"Nothing, dude, you just ain't reacting to this like a normal person," Mikey pointed out.

"How should I be reacting?" Harry questioned. "I think you guys are probably the most normal thing I've met this year, when compared to the giant spider that tried to eat me, the snake you killed, or the ghost from a diary," Harry pointed out and smiled when Mikey laughed again.

"Hear that, Raphie! He said I'm normal!" Mikey grinned at the slightly taller turtle.

"Yeah, compared to a spider and a snake," Raph said, smirking when Mikey's grin turned into a pout.

"I believe what Michelangelo is implying," Splinter said, interrupting his sons before a real fight could be started between them, "is that someone in your situation would usually have questions," Splinter said, looking at Harry as the small twelve-year-old stood there.

Harry bit his lower lip; he really did have a lot of questions but there was only one that he wanted the answer to at the moment. "Where is Ginny?" Harry asked, looking up at the tall rat, whoblinked down at him in slight surprise before smiling.

"Your friend is through there," Splinter said, motioning toward one of the doors. "Donatello is seeing to her at the moment, and Leonardo has gone to fetch one of your teachers," Splinter informed him.

"Can I see her?" Harry asked looking toward the door that Splinter had pointed to.

"Of course," Splinter motioned for Harry to follow him and lead him toward the room, knocking on the door lightly before he opened it and allowed Harry to step inside. "You can wait in here with your friend, until Leonardo returns with a teacher," Splinter said and Harry nodded his thanks looking up at the tall rat.

"Um... my friend Ron went down there with me as well, I told him to go back up to the castle after we got Ginny…"

"I will send Raphael to see if your friend has made it back up to the Castle safely," Splinter reassured him and Harry smiled before heading further into the room so he could sit next to Ginny's bed and wait for whatever teacher that Leo managed to bring back.

TBC

Okay! So here is chapter one of a story that was never really supposed to be a thing! But now it's a thing, and I have a fairly good idea of where I'm actually going to go with it!

(1) Okay, and for those of you who I know are going to probably be annoyed by this little part here with the sword killing the horcrux without killing the basilisk, my whole reason for that is that when writing that scene out, I legit just forgot that it was the venom that made the sword able to kill the horcrux (as it was to my understanding that the sword of Gryffindor could have done it regardless) SO! My choices were to re-write the WHOLE thing again and make Harry fight the Basilisk, or leave it as it is and say that the sword was probably able to kill the Basilisk anyway because it belonged to Gryffendor, and who's to say he didn't kill a Basilisk or two with it? (he was best friends with Slytherin after all!)


	2. Chapter 2

Okay! So a super special thanks to Bicky Monster for beta reading this for me! 3  
Also, it occurred to me as I was writing the final part of this, that I have not actually mentioned how old the turtles are in this fic. So here it is, youngest to oldest.

Mikey and Donnie - 12

Raph and Leo - 13

I did it this way because I wanted Mikey to be the same age as Harry is, I will have more of an explanation at the bottom of this chapter! I hope you enjoy!

 **Chapter 2**

Out of all the teachers that Leonardo could have brought back, Harry had not been expecting it to be Snape. The potions master narrowed his eyes, looking down at Harry, taking in the bruised and dirty appearance of the boy, as well as a few scrapes and cuts that seemed to have already stopped bleeding.

"Sir."

"Spare me your excuses, Potter," Snape sneered down at the boy. "Once again you have demonstrated your inability to follow the rules." Harry opened his mouth to try, once again, to explain but was cut off again by Snape. "You can explain your actions to the Headmaster, and perhaps this time he will not reward your foolishness," Snape said, keeping his gaze fixed on Harry for a moment, before he turned back to where the four turtles were standing with Splinter.

"As for you four..."

"As for my sons, I will be speaking to them myself about this incident," Splinter interjected, fixing Snape with his own glare. "While I do not approve of how you speak to children in your care, my sons are not your students, and I will deal with them accordingly," Splinter said. "However, there has been no harm done, and from what Leonardo has told me, there were no severe casualties from the creature that used to reside under this school."

Harry stared in open shock at Splinter; in Harry's limited experience, no one had ever called Snape out on how he treated students, and here was this rat, doing just that. Harry was sure that if the situation wasn't quite so serious, and if Snape didn't already look so angry, Harry might have been tempted to laugh out loud.

"Potter." Snape turned his attention back to Harry. The small boy tried to school his features, hiding how amused he was. "Move. We will bring Miss Weasley to the hospital wing, and then we shall go and speak with the Headmaster about your latest… adventure," Snape hissed, Harry stepped aside, watching as his teacher conjured a stretcher to carry Ginny.

"Dude, you sure you can go with him? He's like… super creepy angry," Mikey whispered as he moved to stand next to Harry.

"He doesn't like me much," Harry whispered back to the orange-banded turtle.

"I know, why don't we go with you?" Mikey said, grinning widely.

"Mikey," Leo spoke in a warning tone, but the smaller turtle turned to look at him with wide, baby-blue eyes.

"No, listen! We were down there too, right? So we could totally help explain what happened," Mikey said enthusiastically.

"The Headmaster's office is in one of the towers," Snape said as he turned to look at them again. "Mr. Hamato, you have already expressed concern about letting your… sons, wander the halls while the students are here," Snape reminded him.

"Couldn't Dumbledore come down here then?" Harry asked helpfully, shrinking back from the glare that Snape aimed in his direction.

"He most certainly could not," Snape said. "Now I suggest you start moving, Potter, this adventure of yours is over."

Harry swallowed and glanced toward Mikey and his three brothers. "I guess I'll see you around?" Harry asked, not sure if he would even be allowed to see them again.

"You are welcome to come down here and visit," Splinter said, smiling gently at the small boy, before looking back up toward Snape. "If you could give a message to Professor Dumbledore when you see him next, I would like to sit and have tea with him some time," Splinter said.

"I am not your messenger," Snape sneered at the rat, turning once again to Harry. The potions master didn't have to say anything this time, as the small boy started heading toward the door without being told; though he did pause once more to look back at the four turtles.

Once the door closed behind their two guests, Leo turned to look at Splinter. "Master Splinter," he began, but the old rat placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Your new friend will be alright, my sons," Splinter said looking at each of the four in turn.

"But that dungeon dude was super mean!" Mikey exclaimed.

"I know he is supposed to be helping you, Master Splinter, but is there really no one else that can help?" Donnie asked.

"There has been no one else willing to help," Splinter said with a small sigh. "And he is not only going to help me, but you four as well," he got four confused looks in return. "I think it is time that we all sat down and spoke of what will be happening, should Professor Snape succeed," Splinter said, indicating that his sons should sit down.

"What about Harry?" Raph asked, sending a heated glare toward the door.

"Aww, Raphie, it sounds like you might be worried about the little dude," Mikey said teasingly.

"I am not! I just don't like the way that guy was treating him," Raph said, shoving Mikey away from him.

"I assure you, Raphael, your new friend will be fine. Professor Snape is a teacher in this school, and I have been assured that while he may be a little foul tempered, he would not do anything to harm any child in his care," Splinter said in an attempt to calm his easily angered son. "Now come, sit." Splinter indicated the space on the floor in front of him once more, where there were five pillows, one for each of them to sit on.

-x

Harry sat in Dumbledore's office looking around at all the gadgets that seemed to clutter the room. He had never been in the Headmaster's office before, though Harry found that it seemed to suit the old wizard's personality quite well.

The door behind him opened and Harry turned in his seat quickly, frowning when he saw not just Dumbledore enter the room, but McGonagall as well. Though he was thankful that Snape apparently wasn't with them.

"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore greeted, as he walked around his desk and sat down in the chair. "I have just been told a very remarkable story involving you, and a few guests that are residing in the castle at the moment," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Harry looked from Dumbledore, to McGonagall, and back again. "Am I in trouble, sir?" Harry asked.

"Do you think you should be in trouble?" Dumbledore questioned.

Harry opened his mouth to answer, that of course he was in trouble, why else would he be in the Headmaster's office. But Harry didn't say anything, closing his mouth as he put some actual thought into Dumbledore's question. Running through the events in his head once more, Harry answered Dumbledore.

"No, sir," Harry said, watching the aged face of the Headmaster for any sign that he was wrong, or if it was just wishful thinking on his part that he wasn't going to be punished for breaking at least a dozen school rules.

"Then no, Harry, you are not in trouble," Dumbledore said, chuckling at the shocked expression on Harry's face.

"Not that I'm complaining, but can I ask why?" Harry said, not sure if he should push his luck, as it was still very possible that may in fact be punished for his actions so far that evening.

"Of course you can, questions are always welcome, Harry," Dumbledore said. "And to answer your question, while there are things that you could have done differently, your actions and quick thinking saved young Ms. Weasley this evening," Dumbledore told him. "I am not in the habit of punishing students for doing the right thing, that would be counter productive." Dumbledore smiled, even though Harry still looked confused about the situation

"If I'm not in trouble then…" Harry paused, glancing at the headmaster for a moment before continuing, "why am I here?"

"You are here for two reasons, my boy" Dumbledore said. "The first is because Professor Snape insisted that I speak with you about what happened this evening, which I have done." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he continued watching Harry. "The second, I wish to discuss your new friends with you," Dumbledore explained

"You mean those four turtles?" Harry asked, shifting nervously. He knew that Dumbledore had to know about them, but Harry was worried that maybe he shouldn't have known about them.

"Yes, a remarkable family, with a very interesting story, one I am sure young Michelangelo will be happy to tell you," Dumbledore said.

Harry smiled a little, thinking of the smallest of the four turtles, who did seem to have a knack for talking a lot.

"I would simply like to request that you keep their presence in the castle a secret for now," Dumbledore said, eyeing Harry over his half moon spectacles.

"Why?" Harry asked before he could stop himself. "I mean, it makes sense why they're staying in the dungeons… less people to stare at them down there... but why are they hiding? And why are they here?"

"Mr. Hamato has come here seeking help, from not only Professor Snape, but Professor McGonagall as well," Dumbledore explained. "It is not my place to go into details, however, it was Mr. Hamato's request that his presence, and the existence of his sons, were not revealed to the students, should some of them become curious and go looking for them."

"Oh," was all Harry said, looking from Dumbledore, over to where Professor McGonagall had been standing. Harry remained rather quiet this whole time, before letting his attention drift back to the Headmaster. "Does… will I be able to see them again?" Harry asked, his voice soft as he fidgeted.

"Perhaps, something could be arranged," Dumbledore said, giving Harry a gentle smile as he leaned back in his seat. "There is only a month left of school, so we will arrange something, perhaps over the weekends."

Harry smiled widely at that, beyond happy that he wasn't being told that he couldn't see the four strange creatures again. He didn't know if the four of them considered him a friend, but Harry couldn't help but feel a connection to them. Growing up the way they had, and even now, being in the magical world, they still had to hide away from everyone. They were the outcasts, the people that 'didn't belong'. The one word that came to Harry's mind, was one that he had heard his whole life, and Harry just knew, that these four new friends of his, knew what it was like to be the 'freaks'.

-x

It felt almost surreal to be back in classes, and having lunch in the great hall after all the excitement over the previous weekend. But that's exactly what Harry was doing, even it his thoughts kept drifting to his four new friends, and the fact that he would be allowed to see them again as soon as classes were finished tomorrow.

"It's almost hard to believe that it's over," Ron said. Harry blinked, turning his attention across the table to Ron.

"It's not really that hard to believe," Harry said.

"Harry, do you even realise how long people have been looking for the Chamber of Secrets? I bet every Headmaster, and Headmistress has hunted this castle for it," Ron said, and looked toward Hermione, hoping that she would back him up on this.

"That might be true, but there are still secrets in this castle that even Dumbledore doesn't know about," Harry pointed out. "I think the only people who knew every secret in this place, were the founders," Harry said.

"Okay, that might be true, but it doesn't make what I said any less true, no one has ever found that chamber, only that Tom Riddle guy before, and now us," Ron said, sounding rather pleased with himself about this fact.

"There are others that found the Chamber as well," Harry said, though didn't elaborate further on that, since he had promised not to tell anyone else about the four turtles and their father.

"You mean those guys that I heard with you down there?" Ron asked. "Are you finally going to tell us who they were?" Ron looked eagerly at Harry.

"I already told you, I can't," Harry said, the smile slowly fading as he looked at Ron. "It's not that I don't want to, it's that I made a promise. I can ask them if it's okay for me to tell you two, when I see them next," Harry said, hoping that would be enough, but Ron still looked a little upset.

"Well, wouldn't want to intrude on the privacy of your 'secret friends'," Ron huffed, stabbing a piece of meat on his plate.

"Ron… it's not like that, really," Harry said, trying not to show how upset Ron's comment had made him, because the last thing Harry wanted to do was keep secrets from his first two friends, but he also didn't want to break the trust of his new friends either.

"I promise I'll ask them though, they just...they don't want a lot of people knowing about them, and I don't want them to be mad at me for telling people their secrets," Harry said, silently pleading that Ron would at least be able to understand that much.

"But we're not people, we're your best friends," Ron huffed.

"Harry never said we weren't his friends," Hermione spoke up, not willing to sit silently and watch her two best friends fight over something like this. "I think it's good that Harry has been able to make other friends, and it's not right to ask him to break a promise. If he made a promise to you, would you want him to tell the first person who asked him?" Hermione asked, satisfied when she saw Ron shrink a little in his seat.

"No," Ron sighed, glancing over at Hermione before looking back at Harry. "Sorry, mate, I just wish you could tell me. I mean, if it weren't for that stupid cave in, I would have been in there with you," Ron said.

"And so would've have Lockheart," Harry pointed out, thinking back to the events from a week ago, and how he had only managed to escape the Basilisk because he had been grabbed from behind and pulled into that small alcove where he had met Donatello. "I think things happened for the best really," Harry said.

"Um, Harry," a new voice joined their conversation, Harry looked up to see Neville standing there. "There's someone out in the hall, said they really wanted to talk to you," Neville said, motioning toward the door. Looking around, Harry frowned when he saw someone in a cloak, the hood pulled down over their face to keep them hidden from everyone else.

"Oh, thank you, Neville," Harry said, jumping up from his seat he glanced at Ron and Hermione. "I'll catch up with you two later," he said before hurrying over to the strange person standing next to the door, attracting the attention of other curious students, though Harry already had a sneaking suspicion about who was under the cloak.

"Harry!" The excited voice gave away which turtle it was, and Harry couldn't help but smile at him.

"What are you doing up here?" Harry asked, glancing around. "I thought you said you would be in trouble if you came up here?"

"Don't worry about that, dude, I'll have to do some extra back flips later or something, if they even notice that I'm gone," Mikey said, shrugging. "But it's been forever since we saw you."

"It's only been a week," Harry said, though looked slightly amused by Mikey's over exaggeration.

"Yeah, and that's almost like forever." Mikey laughed, seeming oblivious to the people watching them as they passed by. Harry however, did notice them, glancing at a couple of older teens as they paused by the doorway, looking from Harry to Mikey. Harry gave them a small smile before looking back at Mikey.

"You've seen me now, so shouldn't you head back down to your room?" Harry asked, and though he couldn't see the turtles face, Harry saw the change in Mikey's posture, and was worried that he had upset the hyper turtle.

"I didn't just come up here to see you," Mikey said. "Splinter was talking to that old dude that's in charge here, and they both said that you could come down and visit us," Mikey explained.

"Dumbledore told me the same thing," Harry said.

"Then why haven't you come down to see us?" Mikey asked.

"I can only go down and see you on the weekends, I still have classes and homework during the week," Harry said, hoping that Mikey and the others hadn't thought that his absence was because he didn't like them.

"Oh," Mikey said, his earlier excitement seeming to come back. "But you could come down after the classes right?" Mikey asked hopefully.

"Maybe… But I also have two other friends-"

"Sweet! Bring them too!" Mikey said quickly.

"Shouldn't you ask the others first?" Harry asked, sure that even if Mikey was excited and willing to invite more people, the others might not be. "Dumbledore told me that your father didn't want people knowing about you," Harry said, and wished that he hadn't said anything when he saw Mikey's shoulders slump again.

"Oh, right, yeah probably should ask them first," Mikey said, letting out a small laugh. "But, you can still come down, right?" Mikey asked.

"Of course," Harry said nodding his head quickly. "I've been planning to come down and see you guys all week."

"Could you come down now?" Mikey asked, Harry looked nervously back toward the great hall, then back to Mikey again.

"I've still got classes today, but maybe I can sneak down there before dinner?" Harry suggested, "and it wouldn't be for long; I still have homework, and I have to be back up in my dorm before curfew," Harry said. But none of that really seemed to matter to Mikey, who bounced in excitement and threw his arms around Harry in a tight hug.

"That would be totally awesome, dude!" Mikey said. "I'll go and tell the others!" Mikey made to run off.

"Wait!" Harry said, hurrying after the excited cloaked turtle, stopping him before he could get far. "I don't remember the way."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I'll come up here and meet you," Mikey said, waving at him before he hurried down the stairs to the dungeon, and Harry couldn't help but smile after his new friend.

-x

Mikey kept to the shadows as he made his way back down to the rooms he and his family were staying in. He refrained from whistling, as he was prone to doing when he was extremely happy. There were still a lot of students walking the hall, and he had taken enough of a risk just coming out of their rooms, he didn't need to start whistling and draw more attention to himself.

Moving quickly, and deeper into the dungeon until he saw the familiar door. Mikey grinned to himself and hurried across the hall, pushing the door open and ducking inside. He didn't remove his cloak until after the door was once again locked behind him.

Hanging his cloak up, Mikey tiptoed back into the main room, grinning to himself when he saw that his family must still be in the dojo that had been set up for them. He had pretended to be sick that morning, and had gotten out of training, and now the only thing he had to do was sneak back into his room and crawl back into bed before anyone noticed he was up and about.

"Michelangelo," the stern voice of his father stopped Mikey in his tracks. Wincing as he knew he'd been caught red-handed, the small turtle slowly turned to face Splinter, the tall rat standing by the entrance to their dojo.

"Uh...hey Sensei, I was just getting up to get a glass of water," Mikey said, smiling at his father, who raised a furry eyebrow at him. "And to...uh, stretch my legs a bit," Mikey tried, hoping that his father would buy the fib.

"I see," Splinter said. "If you were getting up for some water, you seem to have forgotten to get yourself a cup." Splinter nodded toward Mikey's empty hand.

"Oh… yeah, that might help." Mikey laughed. "I should go and get that now," Mikey said and moved to do just that.

"Michelangelo." Splinter's voice stopped him again, and Mikey flinched, turning to face his father once more. "I do not mind if you or your brothers wish to take a day off of training once in awhile, however, I do not tolerate any of you lying to me," Splinter said; though he didn't raise his voice, Mikey couldn't help but feel as if he were being yelled at. Lowering his head to the floor, he sniffed softly.

"I'm sorry, Sensei," Mikey mumbled.

"I know that being in a new place has been hard for you, and for your brothers, these rooms while quite spacious, are not the home that you four know," Splinter said, never once looking away from his youngest son, even as the small turtle shuffled his feet and kept his gaze firmly on the floor. "All around you is an energy that you have rarely encountered. And for someone like you, always full of so much energy of your own, it has made it even more difficult for you to sit still, for you to stay where it is safe," Splinter said, moving closer to Mikey so that he could put a finger under his chin and lift his youngest son's head so that he could look into those bright baby-blue eyes.

"I'm really sorry, Sensei," Mikey apologised again, and Splinter moved his hand to rest on Mikey's shoulder. "It's not that I hate it here, I really love these rooms, and I don't hate training at all! I just… I was worried," Mikey admitted.

"About what, my son?" Splinter asked, unable to hide his surprise as he had not noticed Michelangelo being worried about anything recently.

"I thought… you know that kid, Harry? The one you said could come and visit us," Mikey said, though didn't wait for any response from Splinter before he continued. "It's been a whole week, and he hasn't come down here at all, so I thought… I thought maybe he didn't want to come see us," Mikey admitted.

"I see, so you took it upon yourself to go and see him instead?" Splinter questioned, and Mikey nodded his head in confirmation.

"I did!" Mikey was unable to contain the wide grin that spread across his face. "He said he was going to try and come see us today, before dinner! And even if he can't make it, he's going to come down here this weekend anyway, but he doesn't remember the way so I was going to go up and meet him and show him the way down," Mikey said, and only stopped talking when Splinter placed a finger over the turtles lips.

"If you had come to me with your concerns, we could have made arrangements for your friend to come down and visit you sooner," Splinter scolded gently, and hated seeing the smile practically melt from his child's face.

"I just…" Mikey bit his lip, his baby-blue eyes shining with unshed tears. "I was worried that Harry didn't actually like us…" Mikey said softly.

"Michelangelo, I think it would be impossible for anyone to dislike someone with such a kind heart," Splinter reassured him, placing a comforting hand on Michelangelo's head. "And while I understand your concerns, as Harry is one of the first friends you boys have made, you still left these rooms, and you still lied to me," Splinter said. "Because of that, you have left me little choice but to ground you," Splinter watched calmly as Mikey's eyes slowly widened.

"Does… does that mean Harry can't come down here and visit?" Mikey asked.

"As you have already made plans for this, I will allow him to still come and visit, however, before then I expect you to clean up the dojo from today's practice, and tomorrow, you will be doing an extra hour of meditation with me," Splinter said, chuckling when Mikey let out a small groan.

"Hai, Sensei," Mikey said, knowing that his father was being more than fair, but meditation was one of the things he was the worst at. An hour of sitting still was bad enough, two hours of sitting still was going to be pure torture.

"Good, now your brothers are still in the dojo, I am sure they will be glad to know that you are not truly sick," Splinter said, giving Mikey a gentle shove toward the dojo. Mikey glanced back at Splinter; letting out a long sigh, he headed toward the dojo, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

"Mikey, are you okay?" Leo was the first in front of him, and Mikey smiled up at his oldest brother.

"Never better, bro," Mikey said.

"I take it ya got caught for not bein' sick?" Raph asked, coming to stand next to Leo.

"You knew I wasn't sick?" Mikey asked, looking from Leo, to Raph, then over to Donnie as he too came to join them.

"Mikey, you are one of the worst liars in existence," Raph laughed, and Mikey gave his red banded brother an annoyed pout.

"Well fine, then I WON'T tell you the super special awesome news," Mikey said, turning his back on his brothers, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Like anythin' you've got to say could be all that interesting anyway," Raph snorted. "Come on guys, lets get back ta training," Raph said.

"It is too interesting!" Mikey said, raising his voice as he spun back around to glare at Raph. "Harry's coming down here to visit, before dinner tonight, and he's also going to be down here over the weekend," Mikey huffed.

"Wait, how do you know this?" Leo asked.

"Well, I sort of… snuck out?" Mikey explained, rubbing the back of his head.

"Mikey…" Leo said, and Mikey could hear the hint of disappointment in his oldest brother's voice.

"Before you give me a lecture or anything, Sensei already grounded me," Mikey said. He knew that Leo just worried, it was kind of his job as the oldest brother, but it didn't mean that Mikey was ever willing to sit and listen to him ramble on and on about things that may or may not have been dangerous.

"It was still irresponsible-"

"Dude, chill out already," Raph cut in, "Mikey's already been grounded, he doesn't need to be tortured anymore by listening to you. Now are we gonna get back to our fight or what?" Raph asked, backing up as Leo turned to face him.

Mikey watched as his brothers started sparring again, before looking over toward Donnie. "What's wrong, D?" Mikey asked. He had noticed that Donnie had been abnormally quiet all week, ever since they had had their discussion with Splinter. "You're still thinking about what Sensei said, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Donnie sighed, moving to lean against the wall, his eyes focused on Raph and Leo. "How can I not… I mean, I understand what Sensei is trying to do, but it's going to be a huge change for all of us," Donnie said. "And that's if it even works."

"Of course it'll work, bro, Sensei said that dungeon dude knows how to make the right stuff, at least the right stuff to fix Sensei, so he can be human again," Mikey said.

"If Sensei is human again, and the potion that they want to use on us doesn't work, what do you think will happen to us?" Donnie asked and Mikey frowned, lowering his gaze to the floor.

"I guess… things will just continue on as they are? I mean, does it really matter if Sensei is a human or a rat? He's not just going to leave us…" Mikey trailed off and lifted his head sharply, locking eyes with Donnie. "No way, dude! That would never happen!" Mikey said.

"It's still a possibility, Mikey," Donnie said, but Mikey shook his head quickly.

"Don't even think like that, Donnie! Sensei would never abandon us!" Mikey said, unaware that he had been raising his voice, until he noticed that Raph and Leo had stopped sparring and were now staring at them.

"Mikey," Donnie began, reaching out to put a hand on his brother's shoulder, but Mikey smacked it away.

"You're wrong," Mikey said again. He didn't wait for Donnie to say anything else before he turned and ran from the dojo; a moment later the door to Mikey's bedroom could be heard slamming shut.

"Donatello," Splinter's voice came from the doorway, and the olive green turtle looked toward the rat standing there. "I think you and I should sit down and discuss what has been bothering you this past week," Splinter said.

"Hai, Sensei," Donnie said.

Raph and Leo left the dojo without being asked to, Leo closing the door behind them to give their father and Donnie some privacy.

"I'm going to go check on, Mikey," Leo said, and left Raph alone in the sitting room. The red banded turtle huffed and went to sit next to the fire, as there wasn't much anything else to do at the moment. He was just debating on grabbing a random book from the bookshelf, when the fire in the fireplace suddenly turned green, letting out an undignified yelp, Raph jumped from his seat and moved to stand behind the chair as Dumbledore's head appeared in the flames.

"Good afternoon, Raphael," Dumbledore greeted, smiling even though Raph just stood there glaring at him. "By any chance is your father free at the moment?"

"Master Splinter is talking to Donnie, in the dojo," Leo said, coming back into the sitting room.

"Ah, then maybe I should call back a bit later then," Dumbledore said.

"Are you here about the potion?" Mikey's voice joined the conversation, and Dumbledore turned his attention to the small turtle standing just behind Leonardo.

"In a way, yes," Dumbledore said.

"Is it ready?" Mikey asked, sounding hopeful.

"Sadly no, I have been told it may be another month before the potion is ready," Dumbledore said, and watched as Mikey's expression fell. "It is not that much longer to wait, my boy, soon you will be able to roam the halls with the other children in this school, which reminds me, I heard quite a few rumors today, about a strange cloaked figure speaking with someone just outside the great hall today," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling as he looked at Michelangelo.

"Oh, really? Wonder who that could have been," Mikey said, but his smile was back.

"If you happen to see this mysterious cloaked figure, if you would be so kind as to inform him that I will be escorting Harry down here this evening," Dumbledore said, chuckling as Mikey's smile spread into a wide grin.

"Yes sir! I can totally do that!" Mikey said. Earning an eyeroll from his two brothers.

"In the meantime, if you could inform your father that I would like to discuss a few things with him over tea this evening," Dumbledore said.

"I will let him know," Leo said, watching in fascination as Dumbledore nodded before his head vanished from the fire.

"I wonder when we'll get to try that," Mikey said, coming to kneel on the floor in front of the fire, reaching out a hand in an attempt to touch the red flames, only to have his hand grabbed by Leo's.

"It's probably a human thing," Raph growled, slowly moving back around to sit in his seat again.

"Or maybe it's a wizard thing," Mikey said, laying down on the floor and continued staring into the flames, the warmth of the fire making him sleepy. "Maybe we can be wizards too, when we're human," Mikey said, yawning as he closed his eyes. Leo and Raph exchanged a look, but neither of them said anything to Mikey's comment, as none of them were really sure if they even wanted to be human. The only thing they knew for sure, was that no matter what happened, they were going to stick together like they always did. Human or turtle, they were brothers first

TBC

I hope you all enjoyed that! :D it's still hard for me to believe that my dorky idea has taken on such a life of it's own! But I am really having fun writing this! I have so much planned for this fic now! I hope I can get it written now!

Okay, so about the turtles ages, my own personal head canon is that the turtles are not all from the same clutch of eggs. So they have all been born at different times. Mikey being the youngest, but maybe only a couple weeks younger than Donnie. Raph and Leo however, are about six months older than the other two. Which in this fic would put them at 13 to Mikey and Donnie's 12 year old selves.

Leo and Raph hatched sometime in March, while Donnie and Mikey hatched early September. But as they don't know their exact hatch date, they celebrate their 'mutation day' instead. Since that is a day they all remember. However, in coming chapters their exact 'birth date' will be figured out magically ^_^ SO! If anyone has a date they want to suggest for their birthdays, now would be the time!


	3. Chapter 3

A huge thanks to Bicky Monster for beta reading this for me!

Chapter 3

Harry was waiting just outside the Great Hall as Mikey had instructed him to do; he looked around, trying to see if he could spot his energetic turtle friend. There was still no sign of Mikey, and Harry let out a long sigh, silently debating with himself if he should just go up to Gryffindor tower, or if he should attempt to find the hidden room on his own.

"Good evening, Harry." The twelve year old jumped at the sound of the calm, deep voice, his head snapping up to look at Dumbledore, who had just exited the Great Hall. Dumbledore smiled warmly at him.

"You startled me!" Harry exclaimed with a nervous laugh, pressing a hand to his chest to calm his rapidly beating heart. Dumbledore, however, continued to smile at him, and Harry almost thought the Headmaster seemed amused. "Sir?"

"My apologies, my boy, I do not usually interrupt people who seem to be so deep in thought. However, I figured this time I would make an exception, as you have been standing out here for quite some time now," Dumbledore said and Harry blinked.

"I'm sorry, sir," Harry said. "I was… I was waiting for someone," he explained.

"Indeed." Dumbledore continued to smile at him. "I was just on my way down to visit someone myself," the Headmaster said, glancing toward the stairs that lead down to the dungeon. "Perhaps since your own friend is late, you wouldn't mind accompanying me?"

"I'd like to," Harry said, sounding eager to go see his friends. "But… what if Mikey comes up here to look for me?" Harry frowned, glancing toward the dungeon stairs as well.

"Yes, that would be a bit troublesome, though I have it on good authority that young Michelangelo is still safe within his rooms, and shall remain there for quite some time if I am not mistaken," Dumbledore said and Harry tilted his head curiously.

"Is he grounded?" Harry questioned.

"Perhaps that is something you can ask him, when we arrive," Dumbledore said, motioning for Harry to follow. The twelve year old nodded and quickly followed after Dumbledore as the Headmaster made his way toward the dungeon stairs. Harry decided to pay attention to where he was going this time, so that when he was next allowed to come visit his four friends, he would know the way without asking for help.

They reached the familiar hidden door and Harry stood back as Dumbledore knocked. A moment later the door opened to reveal the tall form of the rat Harry had met a week ago.

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore, and Harry. Please come in," Splinter greeted, stepping aside and allowing Harry and Dumbledore to enter.

"I was told that you had something important to discuss with me?" Splinter questioned, looking at Dumbledore while Harry wandered further into the room and looked around, only half paying attention to the conversation that Dumbledore and Splinter were having at the moment.

"Harry." Turning quickly at the sound of his name, Harry looked up at Splinter. "I must speak with Dumbledore alone. My sons are just cleaning up after their evening practice, they will join you when they are finished," Splinter said and Harry nodded.

"Okay," Harry said. The rat smiled at him before turning and walking into the next room, just beyond a set of sliding doors. Dumbledore followed, and the door was closed behind them, leaving Harry alone in the main room.

Harry stood there for a moment before turning his attention toward the rest of the room once again. He hadn't gotten a good look at it the first time he'd been in here, having been too worried about Ginny at the time. So he decided to take the opportunity now, while he waited for his four new friends to join him.

The room's decorations looked very similar to the Gryffindor common room, though there was significantly less furniture than in Gryffindor tower. A large comfy chair was placed in front of the fire; though, instead of a settee, there were four pillows on the floor. Placed between the chair and the pillows was a simple coffee table. However, despite the lack of furniture, it still had a cozy feeling to it.

Turning his attention away from the fireplace, Harry looked in the direction that Dumbledore had gone with Splinter. Harry had only had a brief look into the large room beyond the sliding doors, before the two men had closed them behind themselves and knew his curiosity would have to wait.

Harry sighed, turning once again, this time facing the door on the opposite side of the room from the sliding doors.

Harry already knew what was beyond the door in front of him now, because that was where Ginny had been placed a week ago, after they had come up from the Chamber of Secrets. What drew his attention, however, was the hallway just to the left of the door. He hadn't noticed it the first time he was here, due to the fact that he had been more worried about Ginny than anything else at the time.

Harry allowed his curiosity get the better of him as he moved toward the hallway, noticing that there were five doors located down there, two on each side of the hallway, and one just at the end. Harry had only taken a couple steps into the hallway, intending on exploring where those five doors led, when a loud crash came from one of the rooms, followed by a very angry voice that Harry recognised.

"Mikey! I'm gonna kill ya!" Raph shouted.

A door to Harry's right burst open, slamming hard against the wall. Harry jumped back, wondering if it was a bad idea to be standing in the hallway at the moment, and he was about to move back into the sitting room when a very angry, very pink turtle came out of the room.

Harry stared in shock for a moment and Raph looked around. Harry was unable to stop the short laugh that escaped him. Covering his mouth quickly when angry green eyes locked onto him, Harry took a couple steps back, making sure he was out of reach in case the red-banded turtle decided to take his anger out on him.

"Think this is funny, do ya?" Raph growled, his hands clenching into fists.

"I… well, maybe? A little?" Harry offered, his lips twitching as he fought off a small smile. Raph let out a low growl, and took a few steps in Harry's direction, pausing when Harry quickly backed away.

"Sorry!" Harry said quickly, eyes darting around as if trying to find a quick escape. "It's just… I've never seen a pink turtle before," Harry explained, looking back at Raph and wasn't able to keep a straight face anymore as he giggled again, though this time his laughter was echoed by another. Simultaneously Raph and Harry lifted their gaze up to the ceiling.

"Mikey," Raph growled, seemingly not surprised at all to find his younger brother hiding up above one of the doorways, close enough to the ceiling that it was easy to miss him if you didn't look up. Harry, however, was trying to figure out how the orange-banded turtle was staying clung to the stone wall.

"Aww, pink is such a color for you, Raphie," Mikey pouted. "But, if you don't like it, then maybe we could just stick with red," Mikey offered and threw something at Raph.

Harry looked back at Raph quickly, just in time to see a water balloon burst open over the angry turtle's head. Harry stood there, staring in shock as the pink color that had dyed Raph's skin, was now darkening to a vivid red. Harry had the sneaking suspicion that there had been something other than water in that balloon.

However, Harry didn't get a chance to comment on it as Raph let out a loud yell.

"That's it! You're dead!" Raph shouted, jumping up and making a grab toward Mikey, who laughed, kicking off the wall, avoiding being grabbed by his older brother. Mikey jumped from one wall to the other, before he did a flip over where Harry was standing landing just inside the sitting room.

"Hey Harry!" Mikey greeted happily when he landed, though the hyper turtle didn't stay still for long as Raph charged toward them.

"Uh… hi," Harry greeted back, but Mikey had already taken off running. Harry knew why a second later, when he had to press himself against the wall as Raph ran passed and started chasing Mikey around the room. Harry remained where he was by the wall, not wanting to be trampled as Mikey and Raph ran passed him once again.

"Hold still so I can pound your face in!" Raph yelled. Mikey's only reply to Raph's threat was another laugh as he rounded a chair, causing it to tip over right in Raph's running path. Harry winced, half expecting the red-banded turtle to trip over it, however, Raph did a front flip missing the obstacle and continued running.

Harry wasn't sure what to think of the scene playing out before him; he was torn between amusement, and worry that Raph might actually catch Mikey and hurt the smaller turtle. The only thing that kept Harry from interfering was the fact that Mikey kept laughing the whole time; the orange-banded turtle obviously thought this was some sort of game, and was enjoying every minute of it.

"What did Mikey do this time?"

Harry turned his attention to the new speaker, and saw both Leo and Donnie had come out of their rooms. They were now standing with Harry, watching their brothers run around the room, Mikey knocking things over into Raph's path, though the obstacles did nothing to slow the red turtle down.

"Uh, Mikey threw something at Raph and turned him red… though he was pink before that," Harry explained.

"We should stop them, before they ruin the whole sitting room," Leo said, sounding annoyed. He moved forward reaching out to grab Mikey; but missed as the hyper turtle managed to dodge out of the way. Though Leo managed to grab hold of Raph instead when he ran by.

Donnie put a hand on Harry's shoulder, pulling him a few steps back. "Might be a good idea to stay out of the way for this," Donnie said, his focus still on his two older brothers as Raph turned quickly swinging his fist at Leo.

"Back off, Leo! You can't keep protectin' Mikey like this! The little jerk is gonna learn to stay outta my room!" Raph shouted. Leo easily dodged the punch that was thrown at him, twisting Raph's arm around and tried to push the red turtle up against the wall.

"We've all been the targets of Mikey's pranks before, you threatening to kill him isn't exactly going to make him leave you alone," Leo said, grunting in pain as Raph elbowed him before twisting out of the hold.

Harry stood there and watched with wide eyes as the two turtles started fighting, Mikey bounced over, a wide grin plastered on his face. "Hi Harry!" he greeted for the second time that evening.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Harry asked, his attention still on the two fighting turtles. Mikey turned his attention toward his two oldest brothers as well before shrugging.

"If you want to get in between that, be my guest," Mikey said.

"I would strongly advise against trying that," Donnie said. "It's best to just let them fight it out. They'll either get tired or…" Donnie trailed off, looking across the room to the door that had just slid open revealing a rather annoyed looking rat.

"Yame!" The sharp sound of Splinter's cane hitting the stone floor echoed through the room. Harry wasn't sure how Raph and Leo had even heard their father over their own fight, but both of them were now sitting on the floor seemingly frozen where they were as they stared up at Splinter.

"What is going on?" Splinter demanded, stepping further into the room. "I have taught you boys better than to act like this, especially when we have guests."

Harry shifted back. Even though he hadn't even been involved with what had been doing on, he had learned at a very young age that it was best not to draw attention to yourself when an adult was angry or upset. And Harry figured that the same thing would apply even when that adult was an over sized rat.

"We're sorry, Sensei," Leo said, sitting up a little straighter. "We got a little carried away with our… roughhousing," Leo explained.

Harry remained standing back next to Donnie and Mikey while the brothers fell silent, letting Leo do the talking. It was easy to see, just by looking at the state of the sitting room, that there had been more than roughhousing going on. However, it seemed as if no one was about to start pointing fingers, none of them willing to get their siblings in trouble.

Splinter eyed each of his sons, letting out a long sigh. "I suggest you clean this mess up. And Michelangelo..." Splinter looked to his youngest, who somehow looked more innocent than any of his brothers, with his wide bright eyes and happy smile, "...I do not know where you got that potion that you used on your brother, but I expect to have all of it brought to my room," Splinter ordered. Mikey's smile faded and the youngest turtle nodded his head, turning to do as he was told.

"Sensei! What about me?" Raph demanded. "How are we gonna fix this! I can't stay this color!" Raph indicated his still bright red skin.

"I don't know, Raph, red has always been your color," Donnie said, earning a glare and a small growl from his hot-headed brother.

"The potion should wear off shortly, if it does not, come see me after this room has been cleaned, and I will fix it for you," Splinter said.

"Fine," Raph huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Harry frowned, looking between Raph and Splinter. The rat didn't seem like the type of person that wouldn't tolerate the type of attitude that Raph was clearly displaying. However, Splinter just sighed and turned his attention once again toward Leo.

"I'll make sure that Mikey and Raph clean up their mess," Leo promised. Splinter nodded, turning to go back into the room and closing the sliding door behind him once again.

"You're such a suckup, Leo," Raph huffed.

"He kept you from getting grounded alongside Mikey," Donnie pointed out and Harry looked up at the slightly taller turtle.

"Mikey's really grounded?" Harry questioned, though he had guessed as much before even coming down here, Harry had still hoped his new friend hadn't gotten into trouble. "It is because he came up to see me earlier?"

"It was more because he decided to lie to Master Splinter," Leo said.

"And he snuck out of the rooms ta go see you," Raph added helpfully, earning a glare from both Donnie and Leo when they saw the guilty look that settled over Harry's face. Donnie placed a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder smiling down at him.

"What Leo said is true, Mikey got grounded mostly because he lied to Splinter, sneaking out had very little to do with it," Donnie explained.

"So… it wasn't my fault?" Harry asked, looking from Donnie, to Leo, before his eyes settled on Raph.

"No," Leo answered, gaining Harry's attention again. "It wasn't your fault." Leo said, and even though Harry got the feeling the blue-banded turtle would have said that, regardless of whether he was at fault or not, Harry couldn't help but smile at him.

"Do you guys want some help cleaning up the room?" Harry asked.

"Are you going to clean it up by magic?" Mikey asked as he suddenly popped up behind Harry, his hands grabbing onto Harry's shoulders.

Harry jumped and screamed, turning around quickly, as he hadn't been expecting Mikey to spring up like that.

"Sorry, dude," Mikey laughed, grinning widely.

"Don't… don't sneak up on me," Harry said, a hand on his chest to calm his racing heart.

Mikey nodded once. "Right! No sneaking, ninja's honor!" The orange-banded turtle crossed his heart. "So are you?" he asked again.

"Am I what?" Harry frowned.

"Magic, dude! Are you going to fix the room with magic?" Mikey asked, practically bouncing with excitement where he stood. Harry glanced from Mikey to look at the other three turtles, though none of them seemed as excited about the idea of magic as Mikey clearly was, they all seemed interested.

"Well… I suppose I could do a couple things, they're really simple spells though, and I don't know how well they're actually going to help with the overall cleaning…" Harry admitted.

"Alright, magician, let's see what ya can do," Raph said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm a wizard, not a magician," Harry huffed.

"Same difference." Raph waved his hand dismissively.

"Actually, Raph, there are plenty of differences between-"

"Blah, blah, blah, no one cares about your nerd explanations, Don. Wizard, magician, they both use magic, so they're both the same thing," Raph snapped.

Leo stepped between the two of them before an actual fight could break out. "Enough, you two," Leo said, giving Raph a warning look, before he turned his attention toward Harry. "I think it would be really cool to see some magic," Leo said.

Harry nodded, glancing around the room before he spotted a chair that had been turned over on it's side. Pulling out his wand he used the levitation spell, floating it into the air a few inches so that he could turn it rightside up again, before setting it down once more.

Once he had done that, he looked back toward the four turtles, all of them staring at him with a different range of expressions. Leo looked very impressed, and was smiling at him; Raph looked more irritated than he had before; Donnie seemed fascinated, and this was proven as the purple-banded turtled hurried forward and started inspecting the chair, as if there were some kind of trick that Harry had used to move it.

"Dude!" Mikey was excited, his face split into a wide grin as he dove toward Harry, wrapping his arms tightly around the skinny boy. "That was TOTALLY awesome! Do it again! No wait, what else do you know? Can I try next? Do you think it would work if I used your stick?" Mikey was babbling nearly a mile a minute.

Harry smiled widely at his new friends excited curiosity. "I know one more spell, though I'm not very good at it," Harry admitted.

"That's okay, dude!" Mikey said. "Come on, let's clean up!"

Mikey took Harry's hand and started pulling the other boy around the room with him, Harry using a combination of the levitation charm, and the one Hermione had been teaching him, to repair his glasses if they broke again. Though he wasn't too good at the second one, and had only managed to fix two things that had broken, Mikey still acted as if Harry had just cast the most difficult and wonderful spell ever created.

"Mikey, stop dragging him around the room like that," Leo said, shaking his head.

"He doesn't mind," Mikey said, then paused to look at Harry. "You don't mind, do you?" He asked.

"No, this is actually a lot of fun," Harry admitted. It was the most fun he had had with magic since the first day he had stepped into the wizarding world.

"See!" Mikey laughed, pulling Harry over to where the last chair was tipped over. "Can I try this one, Harry? Please! I've been watching you and I totally think I know how to do it!" Mikey said.

Harry frowned, looking down at his wand. "I don't know if it will work for you," Harry admitted, but he held his wand out for Mikey anyway. "Just don't be disappointed if nothing-" Harry was cut off as a loud bang sounded from his wand when the orange-banded turtle swung it, repeating the same spell he had heard Harry saying over and over again.

The chair didn't just levitate off the floor, it shot up to the ceiling and shattered, while the force of the spell also sent both Harry and Mikey falling backwards. Harry cried out curling up as the pieces of the chair started raining down, but they never hit him.

Blinking open his eyes in confusion, Harry looked up to see that Raph was leaning over both him and Mikey, protecting them from the larger splinters of wood.

"Are you two okay?" Raph asked as he sat up straight again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said, and looked at Mikey, who was looking from the wand in his hand, to the pieces of wood covering the floor.

"Mikey?" Raph asked, shifting forward when his little brother didn't answer him.

"Did you see that! The chair was on the floor, then BOOM! It shot right up there!" Mikey pointed toward the ceiling, his eyes shining with excitement as the door to the dojo slid open again, this time Splinter and Dumbledore both came out to investigate what was happening in the sitting room.

Splinter took in the scene before him, Mikey, Harry and Raph all sitting on the floor, the broken chair, the shocked and worried expressions Donnie and Leo were giving the other three boys, and finally, the wand that Mikey was still holding in his hand. "What happened in here?" Splinter asked.

Five sets of eyes all turned to look up at him, though Splinter kept his gaze fixed on the wand in Mikey's hand. "You should have seen it Sensei! I did magic!" Mikey said, jumping to his feet. Harry scrambled up as well, half-afraid that Mikey was going to try and levitate something again.

Donnie came over to stand next to Mikey too, looking at the wand in his hand with interest. "Mikey, let me see that for a second," Donnie said.

"I think, perhaps it would be a better idea if you gave Harry back his wand," Splinter said, stepping further into the room. Harry took his wand back when Mikey handed it to him, slipping it back into the pocket of his robes before looking back up at Splinter.

"I'm sorry about the mess, sir," Harry said, "I didn't know that was going to happen," he explained.

"It is quite alright," Splinter reassured him. "The chair is easily fixed."

"Indeed it is," Dumbledore said, stepping forward, waving his own wand at the broken pieces of the chair. The four turtles watched with wide eyes as the splintered chair fixed itself and was set standing up properly again as if nothing had happened. "I must say though, knowing that you four have magic will make things a little easier," Dumbledore said, looking at the four turtles.

"How do you know that we all have magic? Mikey was the only one who did anything," Leo pointed out.

"Michelangelo's display of magic is a good indication that all of you may have some magical abilities," Splinter said. "Though it is something we will test later, where there is less chance of our furniture being broken," he added. Harry frowned in confusion when the rat sounded more amused than angry.

"That was still really cool though," Mikey said, still grinning widely.

"Yes, I am sure it was." Splinter chuckled. "You know what else would be 'cool'? If you finished cleaning up this room," he said, watching as Mikey's smile fell. Baby-blue eyes scanned the mess that was still around them. "Though, perhaps I can make an exception this one time, because you have company, and Harry will not be able to stay down here much longer," Splinter said, glancing toward Dumbledore who nodded once. Aiming his wand again he gave it an elegant swoosh.

Mikey laughed happily, watching as the rest of the furniture righted itself, and anything else that had previously been broken was now repared. Harry also smiled as he watched Dumbledore fix up the room, though Harry couldn't help but notice once again the lack of enthusiasm from the other three turtles.

Harry, however, didn't get a chance to ask them about it as Mikey grabbed his hand and started dragging him down the hall. "Come on! I wanna show you my comic collection! Maybe you can show me some more magic!" Mikey said, and Harry couldn't help but smile at the orange-banded turtle's excitement.

"Mikey! He's our friend too, no hoggin' him all to yourself!" Raph snarled, following after the other two.

"Leonardo, Donatello, go with your brothers, we will discuss things more later this evening," Splinter said, smiling as he watched his last two children disappear down the hallway as well. Letting out a small sigh Splinter looked toward Dumbledore. "I do hope that this potion works the way Professor Snape says it will," Splinter said.

"Severus is one of the best potions masters I have ever met, I assure you that you and your boys have nothing to worry about," Dumbledore said, giving the old rat a reassuring smile.

"Indeed, I am sure you are correct. Now let us return to our tea, before it gets cold," Splinter said, walking back into the dojo.

TBC

I will admit that I am completely shocked that this silly idea has made it up to three chapters, and I have already started on a fourth. At the moment I have this fic planned, as well as several side stories for this planned as well. Some will center around Harry, while others will center around the turtles, everything is going to be part of a larger story, and follow each of these boys through their years at Hogwarts. So right now I have chapter 4 started, as well as the first short for this series.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The air buzzed with excitement, all up and down the train as they pulled away from the Hogsmeade station and started the journey back to London. The school year was over and summer vacation could start. Harry sat, listening to Ron and Hermione going on about what their plans for the summer were, however, he couldn't find the same enjoyment in the conversation that his two best friends did.

Summer with the Dursley's had never been the highlight of Harry's life, and he suspected that this summer was going to be the worst of them yet. After how he had left their house last July, breaking out and most likely causing some damage to the house in the process, Harry was sure that his uncle was going to make him pay, one way or another.

While Ron and Hermione continued talking, Harry turned his attention out the window, pushing the Dursley's from his mind for now. He thought back to the four friends he had left behind at Hogwarts. He hadn't had much of a chance to say goodbye to them, and Harry had no idea if the four turtles, and their rat father, were even going to be there next year. When he had asked, the answer he had gotten was fairly vague, and Harry could only assume that no one knew for sure if they would be there or not.

They arrived in London sooner than Harry would have ever liked; then again, he would have prefered not to have arrived at all. He took his time gathering his trunk, and had a momentary debate about whether or not he should just let Hedwig out of her cage now, save her the misery of being trapped all summer; but he knew that Uncle Vernon would demand she be put inside her cage anyway.

"Sorry, Hedwig," Harry whispered.

"You coming, Harry?" Ron asked, poking his head back into the compartment. "Mum wants to see you before we take off."

Harry swallowed hard and nodded, wondering what Mrs Weasley could possibly want to see him about. Dragging his trunk with him, Harry left the train, spotting the Weasley family immediately. The large group of red-heads wasn't hard to miss.

"Oh, Harry! There you are," Mrs. Weasley said, pulling Harry into a quick hug, letting him go before it got too awkward, though Harry's cheeks were still red as she pulled back. "Now, you stay out of mischief this summer," Molly told him.

"I'll do my best," Harry said, though was sure he would have no problem staying out of mischief, if the Dursley's decided to just lock him in his room for the summer again.

"See that you do," Molly said.

"I should get going, I don't want to keep my Uncle waiting," Harry said, turning to say his goodbyes to Ron and Hermione.

Having embraced each of them in turn, and knowing he could put it off no longer, he headed out to where he knew Vernon would be waiting for him. Like the previous year, Harry didn't think too much on the feeling of surprise he got when he saw that his uncle was in fact there to pick him up.

"Get in the car, boy," was Vernon's greeting to him, though that was still more than Harry had been expecting. Loading his trunk into the boot, he kept Hedwig's cage with him as he climbed into the back seat.

"That bird had better stay quiet this summer, or else," Vernon snapped once Harry was buckled in.

"I keep telling you, she'd be better behaved if she wasn't locked up all the time," Harry said.

"Don't talk back to me, boy!" Vernon snapped, turning around in his seat to glare at him, looking satisfied when Harry sank further back in his seat.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled quickly, falling silent for the car ride home. Much like he had on the train, Harry watched the scenery pass as they left London and headed for the prison he was forced to call home.

-x

Everything was overwhelming, that was the only word that any of them could think of to describe being suddenly changed and having to deal with a whole new body. Leo didn't know how Splinter had done this the first time, going through such a change and then still being able to gather up and care for the four turtles he had bought.

"Easy, my son," Splinter said, resting a comforting hand on Leo's back.

"That… hurt a bit more than I expected," Leo admitted as he straightened up a bit more, moving slowly as if expecting there to be more pain again. A noise off to one side alerted Leo to the fact that his brothers were also moving around. "Raph? Don? Mikey? You guys okay?" Leo questioned, looking at each of his brothers in turn, trying to ignore how strange it was to look at the human forms slowly shifting around, and not immediately recognizing them as his brothers.

"Blah! I can still taste that stuff on my tongue!" Mikey complained, his tongue sticking out as if that would help get rid of the taste faster.

Leo let out a small sigh of relief seeing that the youngest of them seemed to be unfazed by the transformation, and so Leo took a moment to take in his baby brother's new look. Michelangelo's light green skin was gone, replaced with the pale pink of human skin. His hair was a vivid copper that fell in short curly tufts around his face. Leo was mildly amused to see that Mikey had kept his freckles.

"Here, my son, drink this, it will help wash the taste away," Splinter said.

Leo blinked, his attention switching toward Splinter; their father was easier to recognise since Leo had seen pictures of the rat from when he was human before. But it was still a strange thing to see and Leo knew it was going to take a while to get used to how things were now.

"I vote we never do that again," Raph grumbled and Leo turned to his hot-headed brother next. Leo didn't even try to hide his amused grin when he saw that Raph and Mikey looked similar, both with red hair, though Raph's was a bit darker than Mikey's, and while his lacked the curls, it still seemed to have some wave to it.

"I agree, that was extremely unpleasant," Donnie said and Leo looked toward his final brother. Donnie was sitting up, examining himself from head to toe. His hair was dark brunet, and from what Leo could see of himself, he and Donnie shared hair colors as well.

Warm fabric was draped over Leo's shoulders, and it was only then that he realised that he and his brothers were naked, their shells gone, exposing them more than Leo was used to. Glancing around, he could see that the other three had just come to the same conclusion.

"Dude! This is so weird!" Mikey exclaimed. "Our bits are on the outside!" Mikey said, gesturing between his legs as he sat displaying himself to the whole room, at least until Splinter covered him with a robe as well.

"Your bodies will take a little getting used to," Splinter said with an amused chuckle as Mikey kept opening the robe to look at himself again.

"Mikey! Keep your clothes shut! Ain't no one want to see that!" Raph snapped, his own robes being held closed tightly, faint red patches on his cheeks.

"Awww, Raphie, are you blushing?" Mikey teased, giggling when Raph narrowed his eyes at him. Mikey stood quickly, letting out a yelp when he tripped after only a couple steps.

"This is… very strange," Donnie said as he too stood up, though he wasn't as eager to move around like Mikey was. The younger boy already back on his feet, laughing as he fell over again. "I knew our shells gave us a different sense of balance, and they added some weight to us as well, but I hadn't realised how different until now…"

"You better not be thinking of running tests on us or somethin'" Raph said, rolling his eyes before looking over toward Leo, who was also standing, taking a carefully measured step, testing out his new balance. "Hey, fearless, I'll race ya to the shower," Raph said, standing quickly.

"I'm not racing you," Leo said, taking another step. "We're not used to these bodies, and while they are still similar to how we were before, Donnie is right in the fact that our sense of balance is off. If we push ourselves too much we could end up getting hurt," Leo pointed out.

"Leonardo is correct, I do not want you boys doing anything foolish. Give it time. We will be doing some basic training exercises that will get you used to how your new bodies move," Splinter said.

"Oh wow! Look at this guys!" Mikey shouted, and all eyes turned toward him.

Mikey was arching over backwards, his forearms resting comfortably on the floor, feet firmly on the ground, his whole body folded over the top of his head. It was no surprise that Mikey was so flexible, he had been doing near impossible moves for years, but even Mikey had been restricted due to the large shell he had been born with. Without it though, Mikey was showing just how well he could move, as he contorted himself from one pose into another.

Splinter shook his head at his youngest son again. "Try not to push yourself too much, Michelangelo," Splinter said, though he got the feeling he was going to be saying that to all his sons a lot over the next few weeks as they got used to this new life that had suddenly been opened to them.

"I'm totally fine, Sensei," Mikey said, bending one of his legs over his head and locking it behind his neck.

"Be that as it may, perhaps some of these stretches can wait until we have proper clothes for you boys," Splinter suggested as Mikey's robe was practically useless by now, hanging half off his shoulders, and not even closed in the front any more.

"Aww, okay," Mikey pouted, righting himself again as Splinter came forward to fix his robe, pulling it shut in the front once more. "Now, do you boys think you will be up for a walk? Or should I bring Professor Dumbledore down here?"

"Walk!' Mikey said happily, bouncing to his feet.

"I… I wouldn't mind spending some time outside of these rooms," Donnie admitted almost shyly.

Leo nodded his agreement. "As long as we take it a little slow."

Raph gave no verbal agreement, but he shrugged his shoulders.

"Very well then. Make sure you keep your robes closed. The school is only mostly empty at the moment as the students have gone home, but the Teachers are still finishing some of their work here," Splinter said, though he focused mainly on Mikey as he spoke. The four boys nodded, all of them eager in their own way to get out of their rooms and stretch their legs.

As they left the room, Mikey managing to dart ahead of all of them, tripping and stumbling the whole way, Splinter couldn't help but wonder if any of them had realised yet that because of this transformation, none of them would have to hide in shadows any more. This rare trip out of their rooms during daylight hours was going to become a more regular thing, and Splinter was looking forward to how his sons would react when they too realised this.

-x

Summer was turning out to be worse than Harry had ever imagined it could be. He had known that Uncle Vernon wasn't going to be happy about the damage done to the house last summer, when Ron, Fred and George had ripped the bars off Harry's window to break him out, but he hadn't anticipated just how furious his Uncle was with him.

As much as Harry had been dreading being locked away in his room again, he quickly decided it was preferable to facing Vernon's anger. And he might have been able to get away with simply being locked in his room, and staying out of the way of his relatives until the time came to return to Hogwarts again, if it wasn't for the fact that Aunt Marge was staying with them as well.

Aunt Marge, however, had never trusted Harry. She constantly suspected that he was up to something, and because of this, he was forced to remain in whatever room she was in so that she could 'keep an eye on him'. Despite this, Harry thought he had been doing a fairly good job at keeping hold of his temper; though truthfully that was the easy part compared to the growing fear that Harry felt whenever Marge brought up the topic of discipline.

"The boy needs a good thrashing," was a phrase Harry had heard far too often over the week that Marge had been there. If it had just been her saying it, Harry might have been able to ignore it. However, it was when Uncle Vernon started agreeing with her that the fear really started to build.

There was no foundation for the fear, because despite all the man's yelling, and a bit of rough treatment now and then, Uncle Vernon had never done anything more than take an occasional swing at Harry. And Harry had always been fast enough to move out of the way, and smart enough to take the hint and make himself invisible for a while. But that wasn't an option now; Harry was hardly allowed out of Aunt Marge's sight.

Harry was currently making himself as small as possible, standing just inside the kitchen, next to the fridge, while Uncle Vernon and Aunt Marge finished off their post-dinner brandy. Harry had already cleared the dishes from the table as Aunt Petunia had shrilly demanded, and was now simply keeping himself close enough and quiet enough to not draw attention his way.

"This wasn't enough," Dudley complained as he finished off second helping of dessert.

"There's ice cream in the freezer, Diddykins," Petunia told him, and Dudley was off his seat and barrelling towards the kitchen before she had finished speaking.

Harry moved quickly, dodging out of the way before his cousin's large form could knock into him; not that Dudley seem to notice him there anyway. Which Harry was fine with; sometimes not being noticed by his family was easier.

Harry watched Dudley in disgust as the larger boy grabbed the tub of ice cream, not even bothering with a bowl as he took the previously unopened ice cream toward the living room, his sights set on the TV and whatever programs were going to be on that evening.

"You."

Harry turned quickly toward the speaker, already knowing it had been Marge; she was the only person who referred to him as 'you'. In her eyes it seemed that Harry wasn't even enough of a person to earn the title 'boy' as his Aunt and Uncle would call him, a concept that Harry hadn't been bothered by all that much, until now. Staring at Marge, he waited for her to continue speaking.

"You see Vernon?" Marge said, still looking at Harry, but addressing the large man next to her. "This is exactly what I've been talking about. He's not stable, a few good beatings would straighten that right out."

Harry clenched his hands into fists, taking deep calming breaths as he tried to keep himself calm. This wasn't the first time that they had started talking about him as if he wasn't even there, and Harry was sure it wouldn't be the last either. However, if this conversation followed the same pattern as the ones that had taken place throughout the week, Harry would stand here for the next fifteen minutes, before someone sent him off to bed.

Just fifteen minutes and he could go hide in his room, lock himself inside until someone dragged him out the following morning. Harry tuned out the conversation as best he could, watching the clock on the wall instead. He didn't really want to pay attention to Marge and all her suggestions on how to 'deal with' him.

"Will you stop standing there like an idiot?" Marge snapped, and it took Harry a moment to realise that she was speaking to him again.

"Go to your room, boy," Vernon said quickly, wanting to stop anything further from happening. Something that Harry was grateful for; at least this way he wouldn't have to stand here and listen to them anymore. He said nothing, just turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Harry paused briefly by the doorway to the living room, looking in at Dudley, who was sitting on the sofa, the tub of ice cream on his lap. Marge's dog, Ripper, was sat at Dudley's feet, Harry thought it was a little odd that Ripper wasn't sticking close to Marge's side, but Harry soon realised why the dog was sitting so close to Dudley, when he saw his cousin scoop out a large bit of ice cream, some of it falling to the floor. Ripper lapped it up quickly, leaving no evidence that Dudley had made a mess.

Shaking his head Harry turned to continue his way up to his room, when his cousin stopped him.

"Where you going, freak?" Dudley asked. Harry took a deep calming breath once more.

"I'm going to bed," Harry answered, looking to Dudley, and he noticed that Ripper was once more lapping up some ice cream that had fallen. "You really shouldn't let the dog eat that," Harry told him with a nod towards Ripper.

Dudley blinked slowly, clearly confused when he looked down at the dog. "Hey! That's mine!" Dudley shouted.

Harry watched in growing horror as Dudley stood quickly, the tub of ice cream falling to the floor; Ripper didn't have a chance to even go after this new treat before Dudley swung his leg out and kicked Ripper, the small dog letting out a yelp of pain as it was kicked painfully across the floor.

Between Dudley's shout, and the yelp of the dog, Harry shouldn't have been surprised to see the three adults coming to see what was going on.

"What have you done now, boy?" Vernon bellowed as he barged into the room. However, Harry didn't have a chance to answer before Marge let out a horrified wail, pushing past her brother and all but throwing herself at where Ripper was lying.

The dog was letting out whimpers, as the large woman pawed at the animal, presumably in an attempt to check for injuries. Petunia said nothing, standing close to her husband, hand pressed to her mouth. Marge lifted Ripper up into her arms and turned to glare at Harry, making it clear that she already blamed him for her precious dog's injury.

"He tried to take my ice cream." Dudley declared loudly, the tub of ice cream already back safely in his arms.

Harry stared at Dudley with wide eyes, not that he was surprised at his cousin's actions, but to say it like that, Harry already knew what conclusion the adults were going to come to.

"You horrid beast!" Marge wailed, Harry's attention snapped back toward her, watching as Vernon helped her struggle back to her feet. "You see! You see Vernon! It's just as I've been telling you! That horrid boy is violent! First he tries to steal what isn't his, and now he's attacked my poor defenceless Ripper! What would you do if it was Dudley that he attacked?" Marge asked. "Something must be done! And if you are not going to take care of it, then I will!"

Vernon was looking livid, and Harry's breathing was rapid, fear growing as he realised how bad this could get.

"Dudley kicked Ripper! I didn't touch him," Harry exclaimed, already knowing that no one was going to believe him. In vain he looked to his cousin, but Dudley's attention was already back on the ice cream, completely unfazed by the predicament that he had thrown Harry into.

"How dare you blame Dudley!" Vernon shouted, and Harry's stomach plummeted when he saw his uncle grab Dudley's Smeltings stick from where it had been dumped on the mantlepiece. "You'll pay for this, you horrid freak. I've had enough of this, you're going to learn your place once and for all!"

"I didn't do it!" Harry protested as he backed away, dodging as Vernon swung the Smeltings stick at him.

But Vernon wasn't going to stop; dodging and running away wasn't going to save Harry from what was coming. Harry's eyes darted around, looking for some sort of escape from his enraged uncle. Seeing a small opening, Harry took his chance as the stick was swung at him again. Dodging, Harry darted away; if he could perhaps make it to the hallway, he could get his wand from his trunk and properly defend himself.

Harry didn't make it far at all when something struck him the back of his head. Stumbling, Harry cried out as he fell to the floor, his arms wrapping around his head to protect it from any further harm. He had been caught, and there was no escape this time. Each hit sent a new wave of pain through Harry as he cried out.

"I didn't do it! It wasn't me!" Harry continued to cry, but even his words slowly died away, his face wet with tears as the blows continued to fall.

He was a shaking sobbing mess by the time Vernon had finished.

"That will teach you, boy," Vernon huffed, out of breath, and tossed the stick aside. Harry didn't dare move, flinching violently when he heard the small clatter of the wood hitting the floor.

"Vernon…" Petunia's voice sounded weak, and almost frightened.

"It had to be done, it was for his own good," Marge stated. "Though I still think if you had taken this matter in hand before, he might not have turned out as such a bad egg."

Harry's whole body hurt and his head was swimming. The voices of the adults faded as they left the living room, and it was only then that Harry dared to move. Biting his lip so as not to make a noise, Harry sat up, taking a deep breath as the room spun around him again.

"Harry?" Dudley's uncertain voice reached his ears and Harry lifted his head to glare at his cousin.

"Don't talk to me," Harry hissed. "Don't even look at me!" Stumbling to his feet Harry made his way to the hallway; he was dreading climbing all those stairs to his room, but he had to get Hedwig, and he had to get out of this place.

Harry knew how stuff like this went, and the last thing he wanted was to stick around long enough for his uncle to go even further, for him to end up as an unidentified body in the back of an alley somewhere. Even if the rational part of Harry's mind told him that there was no way Uncle Vernon would go that far. However the twinge of pain reminded Harry that just that morning he never would have thought his uncle capable of beating him with Dudley's Smeltings stick. And yet here he was.

So Harry wasn't going to stay here any longer, and give Uncle Vernon time to prove him wrong, again.

-x

The street was crowded; never before in all their life had they seen so many people in one place, and been allowed to walk among them. No one stared at them, no one screamed because there were 'monstrous freaks' walking around. They were human, just like the rest of the people walking around.

However, even though they looked human, the urge to slip into the shadows and hide away from prying eyes was still there. The only thing that stopped Leo from doing just that, was the presence of their father. Splinter, or Yoshi as he was known to most humans, was very good at reading his sons, and knowing when being around so many people was becoming a strain on them.

Leonardo was tense, but hid it well for someone who was only fourteen. It was Raphael that Splinter was worried about the most; he was just as tense as Leo, but if Splinter knew anything about his hot headed son, it was that he could strike out at any moment if wound too tightly.

Donatello was more skittish than tense, everything was new and foreign to him, and because he couldn't fully understand it yet, it had him on edge as well. Splinter had had many talks with his genius son over the last month, easing him into the magical world.

And then there was Michelangelo, the youngest had adapted to everything faster than all three of his brothers combined. The bright eyes and wide smile made Splinter hopeful that things would work out for all four of his children.

"Michelangelo, you must stay with me and your brothers," Splinter said, calling ahead to his youngest once again, as Mikey had seen yet another thing that caught his attention.

"I wasn't going too far," Mikey said, but came back to walk with them regardless.

"Don't know what's so amazing about this place anyway," Raph grumbled, hands stuffed in the pockets of his pants. "There's too many people, and it's noisy."

"We won't be here long, my son," Splinter assured the teen. "But if you four are to start school, we need books, and you four will need wands."

"Who said I even WANTED to go ta school?" Raph huffed.

"I wish for you all to give it a try, for this year at least. Then if you do not like it, or it is too much for you, we will find another alternative for your schooling." Splinter compromised, though he was certain that once his sons started attending classes, and started making friends, things would be a little better for them.

"I, for one, am interested in the scientific aspects of all this magic. How does it all really work? I bet some people have written some fascinating books on the subject," Donnie said.

"Oh, just shut up," Raph huffed.

"You shouldn't take your bad mood out on Donnie," Leo said.

"No one asked you, fearless," Raph snapped.

"This is new to all of us, we're all stressed, Raph, and you snapping at us isn't helping!" Leo narrowed his eyes at Raph, and the argument probably would have escalated from there if Splinter hadn't intervened.

Mikey stood off to the side, a small frown on his face as he watched his family. Splinter was talking quickly and quietly to both Leo and Raph, while Donnie shrank back, staying out of the way of people who were passing by. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and Mikey was sure it wasn't going to be the last either; being human was very strange, and all of them were handling it differently.

Mikey couldn't really understand why his brothers were so hesitant to accept how things were now. Everything around them was so bright, and quite literally, magical. The only thing that was really frightening to Mikey, was that this might all be a dream, that he would wake up in his bed, in the sewers of New York, and none of this would be real.

Looking around him again, trying to take everything in at once, Mikey's face lit up as he saw something interesting that caught his attention. Glancing at his family once more, deciding that they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, Mikey hurried across the busy street to the shop that had caught his interest.

Mikey wanted to know what was so fascinating that had multiple people stopping to look into the single window, there seemed to be no fewer than twenty people there at any given time, and whatever it was they were looking at had to be more interesting than Leo and Raph fighting, again.

Standing up on his tiptoes to try and see over the taller people in front of him, Mikey pouted when he still couldn't see. "What's that?" Mikey asked, earning a couple curious looks from the people standing closest to him. No one answered, but a small gap was made so that he could get closer to see what exactly was being displayed in the store front window.

"A broom?" Mikey questioned.

"It's supposedly one of the best brooms made to date," someone said, and Mikey turned to look at the speaker.

"Harry!" Mikey said excitedly, though his face fell a moment later when his friend pulled his hood up, and darted away from the small group of people. Confused, and a little concerned by his friends reaction, Mikey darted after him, weaving between people as he hurried along.

"Wait up!" Mikey called after his retreating friend.

"Leave me alone!" Harry called over his shoulder, and Mikey decided that he wasn't going to catch Harry unless he did something drastic.

Looking around quickly he saw his opportunity coming up, the only clear space available to in an extra burst of speed Mikey lept into the air with a cry of "Booyakasha!" His feet connected with the stack of cauldrons, he pushed off again, aiming to flip and land in front of Harry.

This plan would have succeeded too, if the stack of cauldrons had been a more solid display, like Mikey had originally thought. The cauldron under his feet gave way, and the others followed as Mikey cried out in surprise, falling to the ground with a loud crash.

A shadow fell over Mikey, and the red-headed boy looked up into the shocked expression of Harry.

"Hiya, Harry!" Mikey greeted, as if he wasn't lying in the stack of cauldrons that he had just knocked over.

"Mikey?" Harry questioned with a tone of uncertainty. Mikey beamed up at him in response, however never got a chance to answer because the shopkeeper was suddenly standing there as well, looking very displeased.

TBC

i'm no longer working six days a week! Hopefully this means that I will be able to start writing more again! Maybe actually work out a writing schedule so that all my fics get some attention.


	5. Chapter 5

So! For everyone who has missed this update/announcement, :D reason for my lack of updates on nearly everything over the last few months, is because I am now engaged! And planning my wedding to my lovely, beautiful, beta reader BickyMonster. :D (who is responsible for fixing this chapter up for me!)

That being said, hope you all enjoy this!

Chapter 5

Harry was more than a little confused about what he was looking at. It had been strange enough meeting his new friends, who had been giant walking talking turtles the last time he saw any of them. Now here he was, standing next to the smallest of them, Michelangelo, though the young, self-proclaimed, ninja-in-training was definitely not a turtle anymore.

"What is going on here?" the shopkeeper demanded, glaring down at Mikey, who was still laying on the pile of cauldrons that he had knocked over.

"Sorry, dude, totally my fault," Mikey said, pulling himself back to his feet. "I thought they were a statue or something."

"Are you daft? Why would they be a statue? If you hoodlums have put even a single crack in any of these…"

"Wow, chill out, I said I was sorry. Look, I'll even pick them back up," Mikey said as he started stacking them again.

"Don't bother," the shopkeeper snapped, pulling out his wand and waving it at the cauldrons that were all over the street. Mikey jumped back as a couple flew passed him, stacking themselves up neatly again.

"Wow, that was cool," Mikey said. "Can you do it again?" he questioned.

The shopkeeper didn't look impressed with Mikey's enthusiasm, glaring at him and Harry once more. "Get out of here! I don't want to see either of you around my shop again!" the man snarled.

Mikey stuck his tongue out at the man, grabbing Harry's hand quickly and pulling him away before the shopkeeper could yell at them more.

"What a grouch!" Mikey huffed. "I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know he didn't have those things secure with magic or something? I mean really, who puts stuff out in the street if they're planning on selling them."

Harry said nothing, allowing himself to be pulled along the street, away from the shop and the angry man still glaring at their retreating backs. Harry was still trying to wrap his mind around what exactly was going on, and how Mikey had come to be here, looking the way he did.

They were a ways down the street when Harry finally pulled Mikey to a stop, realising that he had no idea where the former turtle was leading him.

Mikey yelped when he was pulled to an abrupt stop, turning to look curiously at Harry. "You okay, dude?" Mikey asked, tilting his head in an effort to see under the hood that Harry still had pulled over his head, covering most of his face.

"Are you really Mikey?" Harry asked.

"Yep! Totally me, one hundred percent!" Mikey grinned. "What about you, are you really Harry?" Mikey asked, tilting his head further even as Harry turned away, pulling his hood down further to cover the still healing bruises that his uncle had left.

"Yeah, I'm really Harry. I just wasn't sure if you were the same Mikey I met at Hogwarts. I mean… you don't exactly LOOK like yourself at the moment," Harry pointed out.

"Huh?" Mikey looked down at himself. "Oh! Right, you haven't seen me like this yet!" Mikey laughed.

Harry couldn't help but smile a little. "No, I haven't. How did this even happen? I didn't know it was possible for you to become human," Harry said, looking his friend over, taking in the new appearance.

"Magic!" Mikey laughed. "Splinter got that scary bat-dude to help, and all of us are human now! Though Sensei, I suppose you could say he's human again, because he was human before he was a rat, so he just went back to being normal I suppose," Mikey rattled off, and Harry did his best to follow what his friend was saying. However, Mikey's fast talking and rambled story made it a little difficult.

"Okay…" Harry said slowly. "So, what are you doing here? And where is everyone else?" Harry asked; he was sure that MIkey wouldn't have been allowed to come to Diagon alley on his own. Harry looked around wondering where the others could be, though he had no idea what any of them would look like now that they were human.

"Everyone is…" Mikey trailed off, also looking again. "Umm… I dunno, I think they're over there somewhere?" Mikey said waving his hand in a random direction. He chewed on his lower lip. "Or… maybe over there?" he said, gesturing in the opposite direction.

"You don't know where they are?" Harry frowned, letting out a small sigh. He didn't really want to spend too much time out in the crowded street today, too many people to bump into him, and his body was still very sore from the beating he had gotten from his uncle. However, Harry knew he couldn't just leave Mikey out here to find his family on his own. The redhead had already proven how much trouble he could get into.

"Splinter is going to be really mad…" Mikey said, standing on tiptoe to try and see over the people who were much taller than either him or Harry.

"What were you doing before you got separated?" Harry questioned.

"We were going to buy wands!" Mikey said, turning to look at Harry with a wide grin spread across his face. "Wands and school books. Splinter said that if we catch up enough on what others have learned, then we can start school in September with all the other kids, and get sorted into houses and everything! I dunno what that means, but it sounds fun! I've never gone to school before, except you know, last year, but that doesn't really count because we were kind of living under the school, and not going to classes because no one knew that me, Donnie, Raph and Leo were going to be wizards too and-" Mikey was cut off when Harry put hand over the excited boy's mouth.

"Okay, so you were here to get wands for you and your brothers," Harry said, sounding a little amused.

"And books!" Mikey added happily as Harry removed his hand.

"Yes, but we'll be more likely to find them at Ollivander's," Harry explained.

"Oh? How come?" Mikey asked curiously.

"Because there's more than one book shop here, and Ollivander's is the only wand shop," Harry said.

"Oh! Brilliant idea! You're as smart as Donnie!" Mikey grinned. "Let's go! Maybe Splinter won't be to mad if we beat him there!" Mikey turned abruptly, ready to dart off down the street in a random direction.

"Wait!" Harry said, quickly stopping Mikey after the other boy had only taken a few steps. "You don't even know which way the wand shop is!" Harry pointed out, unable to stop from laughing as Mikey skidded to a halt, nearly knocking into someone.

"Oh, right." Mikey giggled. "You should probably take the lead then, huh?"

"Might be a good idea." Harry said, shaking his head. "Come on, it's this way." Harry nodded his head in the direction Mikey had already been running off in.

"If I was already going the right way, why did you stop me?" Mikey asked, keeping pace with Harry.

"Because I didn't want you to pass it." Harry smiled. "Besides, I can't run as fast as you."

Mikey grinned. "Maybe we should get you some ninja training too, then you'd be able to run fast!"

Harry glanced at the other boy for a moment before asking. "Are you really a ninja?"

Mikey nodded his head quickly. "Yep! Totally, one-hundred percent authentic, N.I.T.; Ninja-In-Training."

"Maybe, I'll consider it," Harry said. In truth he thought that maybe some self defence lessons wouldn't be such a bad idea; at the very least, when someone inevitably found out that he had run away from home, and finally made him go back, he wanted to be able to protect himself from his uncle.

"Michelangelo!" The sudden stern voice broke Harry from his own thoughts, and he looked up just in time to see a man, and three other boys, hurrying through the crowd toward him and Mikey.

"I'm SO dead," Mikey mumbled to himself, just loud enough for Harry to hear. "Uh… Hey, um… long time to see?" Mikey said, trying to make a joke about what was likely to be a tense situation.

Harry took a couple steps away, making sure his hoodie was pulled over his face, hiding himself so that hopefully no one else would recognise him. The only thing stopping Harry from making his escape now, was his worry about how much trouble Mikey was going to be in. Though as Harry watched, he realised his worry was pointless; Mikey was quickly pulled into a crushing hug by the man Harry could only assume was Splinter.

"What did I tell you about wandering off! You had me and your brothers worried!" Splinter scolded, letting go of Mikey long enough to look him over.

"Why the shell did ya run off like that?" one of the other boys said.

Harry recognised the rough voice of Raphael. It was strange seeing them all as humans, though as he looked closely, Harry could easily tell who was who. The only thing missing was their green skin and shells, all their other features were still similar enough to their previous turtle-selves.

"Aww, were you worried about me, Raphie?" Mikey grinned at Raph, who rolled his eyes before punching Mikey in the arm.

"No, I just don't wanna stay here any longer; there's too many people," Raph grumbled and looked away, his eyes falling on Harry, who was slowly backing away, even as he continued staring at them all. "What are YOU lookin' at?" Raph snapped, drawing everyone's attention toward Harry, who froze in his retreat.

"I… um…" Harry stuttered, still not wanting to give away who he was, not while Splinter was there, because Harry was sure the former rat would inform Dumbledore of where Harry was, and that would just land him back with the Dursley's. However, even as he tried to calculate how far he would get if he made a run for it, Mikey decided to solve the problem himself.

"Raph! Be nice to Harry!" Mikey snapped, glaring at his brother, earning a surprised look from all three of them.

"If that's Harry, why is he hiding his face?" Donnie questioned, stepping forward in an attempt to get a better look at Harry.

"'Cause he's a superhero, and doesn't wanna be seen, duh," Mikey said, rolling his eyes.

"Mikey, we're in the magical world, technically everyone here is a 'superhero'," Leo said.

"Or a super villain," Raph pointed out.

"Harry's not a villain!" Mikey shouted, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to glare at Raph.

"I'm not a hero, or a villain," Harry said quickly, not wanting this to turn into an argument between the brothers. "I just don't like all the unwanted attention," Harry explained. It wasn't a complete lie, he really didn't want the attention people would give him; partly because he was Harry Potter, the-Boy-Who-Lived; and partly because he really didn't want to explain why he was covered in bruises, even if most of them were fading.

"If ya didn't want attention, Mikey is the last person ya wanna be hangin' out with," Raph said.

"Hey!" Mikey pouted. "At least I'm not boring and grumpy like you." Mikey stuck his tongue out at Raph.

"That's enough," Splinter said, stopping the argument before it could get worse. "Leo, take your brothers inside, I'll be right in," Splinter ordered.

Leo, who had been quiet this whole time, stepped forward and started herding his brothers toward the door leading into Ollivander's shop.

"Aww, but I wanted to hang out with Harry some more!" Mikey pouted.

"Just do as master Splinter said," Leo told him, glancing over his shoulder toward Harry, who shifted a little uneasily at the knowing stare the other boy was giving him.

"Bye, Harry! I'll see you at school!" Mikey called out before he was out of sight. Harry smiled and waved before the door shut behind the four boys, leaving him alone in the street with Splinter.

"I uh… I should be getting back now," Harry said.

"If you don't mind me asking, who are you here with?" Splinter questioned.

Harry frowned at the question, not sure if he should tell the truth or not, but the way Splinter was looking at him, Harry got the impression that the former-rat already knew that Harry was alone.

"I'm by myself today," Harry said softly, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

"I see," Splinter said. Harry blinked up at the man, clearly waiting for him to say more.

"That's it?" Harry questioned. "You're… not going to tell anyone?"

Splinter chuckled. "Who are you afraid I will tell? I'm not acquainted with your relatives."

"... you could tell Dumbledore," Harry said.

"I could." Splinter nodded his head in agreement.

"But, you're not… are you?" Harry pressed, shifting nervously again.

Splinter shook his head. "You clearly have your reasons for being here on your own, and it is certainly not my place to scold you."

Harry let out a long sigh, his shoulders relaxing. He hadn't realised how tense he had gotten, but knowing that Splinter would not tell Dumbledore, meant he would not be sent back to the Dursley's.

"However..."

Harry's relief was short lived, when Splinter spoke again.

"...I would not be at ease knowing you were walking these streets on your own. If it does not interfere with your plans, you are welcome to join my sons, and myself, as we finish our shopping."

Harry bit his lip, weighing his options; he wouldn't mind spending more time with his new friends, but sticking around longer also meant there was a higher possibility that someone would notice his bruises.

"I am also unfamiliar with this area," Splinter went on. "Having someone to show us around would be beneficial, and aid in finishing our shopping earlier than expected."

"I really don't have a choice in this, do I?" Harry sighed.

"You always have a choice," Splinter said. "Some choices you make are better for not only yourself, but others as well." Splinter smiled down at Harry. "I am going to go see to my sons. If you wish, join us." Splinter left it at that, turning to head into Ollivander's.

-x

In the end, Harry had opted to go back to his room at the Leaky Cauldron.

The feeling of guilt settled heavy in his gut as he lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He wanted to go back out, find that strange family of creatures-turned-humans. He would have loved to show them around, and he wanted to get to know the four boys better as well.

He wanted to properly thank them for helping him a couple months ago, in the Chamber of Secrets. And the only thanks Harry had shown, was to run off, leave them to spend hours finding their way around Diagon Alley, when he could have easily helped them. However, the fear of having his biggest secret discovered had had Harry running down the street, weaving between people until he was safely behind the door to his room again.

"You're so useless," Harry cursed himself, rolling over and burying his head in his pillow. He had no idea how long he had been lying there, and he would have remained there all night, if it weren't for the fact that he hadn't had much food that day.

It was with a loud reluctant sigh that Harry pulled himself out of bed, made sure he had his hoodie on and pulled it up to cover most of his face.

He made his way slowly downstairs to the pub below in hopes of getting something to eat. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked around; it wasn't overly crowded, a few people drinking at the bar, and a few more scattered around eating their own late diners. A loud commotion in the far back drew Harry's attention, his eyes widening and he shifted back toward the stairs.

There, sitting in the back of the pub, were Splinter and his sons. The commotion he had heard, was none other than Raph and Mikey, as they fought over what looked like a bread roll.

Slowly inching back further, deciding that food could wait until the morning, Harry turned quickly.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me," he whispered to himself.

Something suddenly grabbed his arm, the hand closing around his still tender bruise and Harry cried out, ripping his arm away. He didn't turn to see who it was that had grabbed him, and cradling his sore arm to his chest, he scampered back up the stairs.

"Harry, wait!" It was Mikey who was once again following him.

"Leave me ALONE!" Harry snapped, turning to face the former-turtle, who came to a stop a few feet away.

"I wanted to see if you were okay… you left earlier and I didn't get to say bye, and just now…"

"I'm fine," Harry said through clenched teeth, as he waited for the dull throbbing to subside.

"You're totally not fine! You're hurt!" Mikey insisted, stepping forward. "I know, Splinter can help. He's really good with making me and my brothers feel better when we're hurt!" Mikey said, reaching out to take Harry's hand again, fully intending to drag him back downstairs where Splinter was.

"I said I'm fine!" Harry snapped, pulling away quickly.

He had remained hidden in the wizarding world for two weeks, after running away from home, and he wanted to keep it that way; he had managed perfectly well by himself. Even having talked with Splinter earlier that day, Harry still couldn't bring himself to trust the man; if he found out why Harry was really there, there was no way that Splinter wouldn't be telling Dumbledore, and then it would only be a matter of hours before Harry was forced back to the Dursley's again. The probability of being sent back to the Dursley's was fairly high in Harry's opinion, and he would rather live on the streets than ever set foot in that house again.

The throbbing in his arm was more bearable now, and Harry let out a small sigh, glancing toward Mikey, who was still standing there, awkwardly silent. Looking at Mikey though, Harry couldn't help but feel a little guilty for snapping at the other boy; he had only been trying to help, and Harry had taken his own anger and fear out on him.

"Sorry," Mikey said softly.

Harry sighed. "I'm really fine," he said. "I'm healing, and… things are complicated for me right now…" Harry said, feeling as if he should at least explain his actions.

"I can still help, I'm good at dealing with complicated things!" Mikey said.

Harry frowned, not sure if that was such a good idea. Mikey looked so eager to help. "This is more than a little complicated…" Harry said, trying to turn his friend down as gently as possible.

"Then perhaps someone who is better equipped at dealing with complicated situations can help," Splinter said, as he came up the stairs behind Mikey.

Harry looked up at Splinter, his eyes widening and he backed away shaking his head. "N-no, thank you, sir. I'm fine. Really. I'd just like to go to my room now…"

"Harry," Splinter said, stopping the retreating boy. "No one here is going to harm you, please, let us help." Splinter held his hand out and Harry looked at it, but made no move to take it. "I will not ask any questions, and I give you my word, I will keep your secret, until you are ready to talk to someone."

Harry looked from the worried face of Splinter, to Mikey, then behind them toward the stairs where Leo, Raph and Donnie had now joined them.

"Donatello, if you could go to our room, and gather up the first aid kit. Leonardo, please help your brother," Splinter ordered, not taking his eyes off Harry.

"Where's your room?" Mikey asked.

Harry felt trapped; he could go to his room, refuse the help, but doing that now just seemed childish. They already knew he was hurt, so there was really no point in denying that , without a word, Harry turned to go to his room, assuming they would follow him regardless. He resigned himself to what was happening, and hoped he could get it over and done with quickly.

Harry stood inside his room, turning slightly to watch Splinter come in, followed by Raph and Mikey.

"So this is where you live?" Mikey asked.

"For this summer," Harry admitted.

"Just the summer?" Raph frowned, and Harry looked toward him now. "Where ya goin' after?"

Harry pressed his lips together, silently debating if he should say anything else. Telling Raph he was going back to Hogwarts wouldn't be giving too much information, but anything after that definitely would be. If he was giving up that information, he may as well just say he ran away from home and wasn't going back.

"Raphael, no more questions," Splinter said,

"But, Sensei," Raph started to argue, but he stopped when Splinter gave him a stern look.

"Harry," Splinter said, keeping his voice calm, as if he was talking to a frightened animal. Harry was sure that Splinter was worried he would run off again.

Harry fidgeted with the edge of his hoodie. "I'm really okay… I am healing, and… it looks worse than it really is," Harry said, wanting to explain that much at least.

"I am sure you are. Please, for my own peace of mind, will you allow me to help as much as I can?" Splinter requested.

Harry glanced toward the door when Donnie and Leo came inside. Donnie was carrying the first aid kit, while Leo had a couple potion bottles with him.

"Is this another one of those choice things?" Harry questioned, looking up at Splinter.

"It is, and just as before, whatever happens next, is your choice," Splinter said.

Harry fidgeted with the edge of hoodie; his stomach was turning uncomfortably with how nervous he was. His hands were shaking, he was focused on just trying to lift his hands, pull his hoodie off and get this over with, but he couldn't move, he felt frozen where he was. A hand gently touched his shoulder and Harry jerked away, turning wide eyes up to look at Leo, who was standing far to close.

"Sorry," Leo said, holding his hands up where Harry could see them.

"We just want to help," Donnie said.

Harry gripped his hoodie tighter, but he still couldn't move, he couldn't make himself show them.

Leo moved forward then, his hands still raised where Harry could see them. Reaching out the dark haired boy grabbed the edge of Harry's hood. The two of them stood there, Harry looking up slightly into Leo's midnight blue eyes. The slightly taller boy pushed Harry's hood back, revealing his face for the time that day.

"What the shell happened to ya!?" Raph demanded.

Harry looked toward him. "I fell," he answered quickly. It was the most cliché and lamest excuse ever, and Harry knew immediately that none of them had believed him.

"Donatello, the first aid kit," Splinter said, stepping forward and Harry backed away, mentally kicking himself for how skittish he was.

"Sensei… maybe it would be best if we just left this with Harry?" Donnie suggested. "Or maybe, there could be fewer of us in here…"

Splinter nodded. "That might be a good idea. Michelangelo, Raphael, let us go back to our own room and get things sorted into your new trunks," Splinter said.

"I can stay and help too!" Mikey said.

"You can barely put a on band-aid properly," Raph said, shoving Mikey in the shoulder as he pushed him toward the door.

"Ow!" Mikey pouted, rubbing the sore spot on his shoulder.

The argument continued all the way out into the hall, where the noise was muffled after Splinter closed the door behind him. Harry looked at the closed door, to Leo then Donnie. "You two don't have to stay," he said.

"We do," Donnie said, opening up the first aid kit and started pulling things out, laying them on Harry's bed.

"Master Splinter isn't the only one who can tell that you're more hurt than you're letting on," Leo said.

"How many times do I have to say I'm fine?" Harry sighed in annoyance, feeling more comfortable now that it was just three of them in the room.

"Fine enough that when Mikey barely touched your arm it hurt you," Donnie said. "That's not 'fine', really. I don't know why people keep insisting they're fine when it's painfully obvious that they're not," he huffed.

Leo shook his head at his brothers complaints, his attention turning to Harry again. "Donnie is the best one of us when it comes to patching people up, and really, it's best if you just let him do his thing," Leo said.

"I don't get it, why do you guys care?" Harry asked. "I mean, we hardly know each other, there's really no reason for any of you to care if I'm hurt or not."

"You're the first friend we've made in this weird place," Donnie said, motioning for Harry to take a seat in the nearby chair.

Harry hesitated. He knew what that felt like; Ron and Hermione had been his first friends, and he would do anything for them.

"If I show you…" Harry trailed off, glancing toward the two teens.

"You're one of us now, Harry," Leo said. "You don't have to say anything, we won't ask questions we know you don't want to answer, and anything you DO tell us, goes no further than this room."

Harry forced a smile, moving forward and sitting down slowly in the seat. Closing his eyes he lifted his hoodie up, being careful not to irritate the few cuts and numerous bruises that the hoodie had been hiding. He kept his eyes closed, even when he heard the twin intakes of breath from Donnie and Leo.

Harry remained silent, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor, refusing to look at either of the boys with him. As they promised, no questions were asked, and Donnie set to work doing his best to patch Harry up.

TBC

Another chapter added to a fic that never was supposed to exist. XD That being said, this is turning out far better than I ever imagined it would!


	6. Chapter 6

Another chapter done! I can't believe I'm up to six chapters on this, and I've said it before, I'll say it again. this was a story that was never meant to happen.

Anyway! Huge thanks to Bicky Monster who would have gotten the beta reading done on this a little faster if I hadn't been such a distraction.

This is probably the last update for this fanfic until after our wedding! So I hope you all enjoy it. :D

Chapter 6

Splinter sat at the table in the pub, watching his four sons interact with Harry, who had joined them for supper that evening. It truly disturbed him that Harry was so small and skinny compared to his boys, even when sat next to his smallest son, Michelangelo. There was something unnatural about Harry's size, and Splinter wished the boy would trust him enough to open up.

"Hey! Give that back!" Mikey's raised voice sounded through the pub, right before the boy nearly dove across the table after his second oldest brother.

"Fair's fair," Raph said, shoving the food he'd just stolen off Mikey's plate into his mouth.

"Oh yeah!" Mikey swiped Raph's plate away from him causing most of the food on it to spill over onto the table.

"Boys, that is enough," Splinter said putting a stop to the argument. Pulling out a long thin wand, he waved it at the mess on the table, placing the food back on Raph's plate. Even as he did this however, he kept an eye on Harry; the boy was holding onto his plate as he ate his food quickly. He seemed afraid that someone would try and take it from him.

"Michelangelo, sit down in your seat, and eat your own supper," Splinter ordered.

"But sensei, Raph-"

"I am well aware of what Raphael did," Splinter said sternly, and Mikey huffed and leaned back in his seat with a pout. Satisfied for now Splinter turned his attention to Raph, who was sat glaring at Mikey from across the table. "Raphael, finish your supper, and then I would like you to meditate with me this evening for an hour."

"Hai, Sensei," Raph said, shooting Mikey a hard look when the younger boy giggled.

"Michelangelo, you will join us," Splinter said, stopping anymore giggles from the boy.

"Aww, but I was gonna hang out with Harry some more tonight," Mikey pouted.

"Harry will still be around, once you are finished meditating," Splinter said. "Now finish eating."

The table fell silent, Raph and Mikey sulking in their own way; Donnie was engrossed in his book that Splinter had to nudge him a few times to remind the boy to eat. And Leo, like Splinter, was keeping a close eye on Harry while he ate.

"Harry, when you're done, do you mind helping me with a couple things?" Leo asked.

"Um… I guess?" Harry said, looking confused about what Leo could need help with.

"I've been reading some of the school books we bought, and I wasn't sure if you'd be familiar with any of them, but you've been going to the school for two years now. Any information you have could be useful," Leo said, smiling politely.

"I don't know how much help I'll be honestly, my grades are below average. My friend Hermione would be the one to talk to if you had any questions," Harry said. "But I can give it a go, I guess."

"I might join you two, if that is alright?" Donnie spoke up. "I'm interested to try and figure out the science aspect of all this magic, and the more information I have, the better."

"You don't have to ask, Don," Leo laughed.

"I was asking for Harry's sake, not yours," Donnie clarified, looking toward Harry.

"Again, I'm not sure how much help I'll be, but I'll give it a try."

Harry smiled and visibly relaxed as he, Donnie and Leo continued their conversation regarding the school books they were curious about, which ones they were reading, and things that Donnie or Leo were finding a little confusing.

Splinter also relaxed, sipping at his tea. He was still worried for Harry, about how the boy had gotten so badly injured and the reason why Harry had wanted to keep it secret. He hoped, that with a little more time, Harry would eventually feel comfortable enough to open up to them.

-x

The following days of summer seemed to pass in a blur for Harry. Each day so far had been full of showing his new friends around Diagon alley, while the evenings were spent going through first and second year school books. Even though Harry had done all his homework and didn't really want to look at anymore school work until he got back to Hogwarts, the excitement on Mikey's face, the disbelieving curiosity from Donnie, and the interest that Leo showed in what Harry could teach them, had Harry willingly giving up his nights to help them.

Raph was another story. While the red haired teen would sit with them and listen, he didn't seem to interested in any of the lessons. However, Harry had caught Raph a couple times trying to subtly copy the wand movements. It amused Harry, but he didn't draw any attention to it and let Raph do his own thing.

Harry had had fun teaching the four former turtles, though he was still convinced that Hermione would have done a better job explaining things, or at the very least highlighting things they would need to know. But even though he had spent nearly every day in Diagon alley, Harry had not seen the clever witch, or Ron for that matter.

He had seen plenty of other Hogwarts students, and had even taken the time to talk to a few of them, introducing them to Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey. And while he wasn't to worried about Hermione and Ron's absence, knowing he would see his two best friends on the train in two days, Harry still would have liked to spend time with them before getting back to School.

The evening of July 30th, Harry climbed into bed and opened one of the books he had bought in Diagon Alley earlier that day, when he had gone out with the other boys again. Hedwig swooped over to perch on his knee and he stroked her soft feathers as his eyes skimmed over the book. It was interesting enough, and gave Harry something to do while he waited for midnight, so he could do his yearly tradition of wishing himself a happy birthday before going to sleep.

As it neared midnight Hedwig flew off Harry's lap and over to the window. Pushing his book away, Harry slid off the bed and went to let her out.

"Happy birthday to me," he said softly, pushing the window open. Hedwig nuzzled her beak against his hand before turning and taking off out the window. Harry stood there for a moment, watching her fly off into the distance.

He moved to turn away from the window, wanting to leave it open for when Hedwig returned, however movement in the alley below caught his attention. Harry squinted into the darkness, trying to catch sight of what had moved down there; it seemed far too large to be a cat.

More movement, and a large black dog slowly came out of its hiding place, its gold eyes locked on Harry. The teen stared right back, eyes wide, feeling a shiver go up his spine at the eerie way the dog kept staring at him. When the dog took another step closer Harry's eyes widened further and he slammed the window shut, pulling the drapes closed. There was something about that dog that was strangely off, and it gave Harry the creeps.

Shifting the drapes to the side a little, Harry looked back down into the alleyway, letting out a small sigh when he didn't see the dog down there anymore.

"Maybe I'm just tired," Harry said to himself, turning away from the window and going to climb back into bed. He had stayed up later tonight than usual, his eyes were clearly playing tricks on him.

Deciding that must be it, Harry removed his glasses and settled down in bed to get some sleep, knowing he would have another full day tomorrow while he got ready to go back to Hogwarts the following day.

-x

Harry woke up the morning of July 31st and blinked slowly as his mind registered that there was someone standing over him. Letting out a shout, Harry shot up in bed, his head nearly colliding with Mikey's.

"Morning, dude!" Mikey greeted enthusiastically.

Harry snatched his glasses off the bedside table and quickly put them on, staring at Mikey with wide eyes. "What are you doing?" Harry asked, putting a hand on his chest to calm his racing heart.

"You were over sleeping, so I came to wake you up!" Mikey said. "Come on! Let's go!" he said, pulling at Harry's arm.

"Mikey, are you…" Donnie trailed off as he came into Harry's room and let out a long sigh. "Didn't master Splinter tell you not to wake Harry up?"

"But bro! It's nearly lunch time! He can't miss breakfast AND lunch!" Mikey said.

"It's nine thirty in the morning, there is still plenty of time for breakfast." Donnie said, then looked toward Harry. "Sorry about him."

Harry smiled and shook his head. "No, it's okay, I should be getting up anyway. I didn't mean to sleep so late," Harry admitted as he got out of bed and started searching his room for his clothes.

"It's understandable, your body is still healing from your injuries," Donnie said, watching as Harry gathered up some of his clothes that had been scattered around the room, leaving out a set of trousers and a top before dumping the rest in his trunk.

"Oh, those are mostly gone," Harry said, lifting his shirt to show Donnie the truth of it, there were faint patches where the bruises used to be, but nothing to really indicated that Harry had been beaten badly.

"How did…?"

"I've always healed fast, I think my magic might have something to do with it, but I've never bothered finding out," Harry said with a shrug.

Mikey stood off to the side frowning at the two of them as they spoke. "So, you're not hurt anymore?" Mikey questioned.

"No, I'm not," Harry said slowly, unsure of how Mikey knew about his injuries.

"That's good! I really wanted to help before, but Splinter said it was best that I let Leo and Donnie help you since they're better with bandages than I am." Mikey said.

Harry frowned at Mikey, glancing toward Donnie, who was also watching him."You guys can't tell anyone about this."

"Why?" Mikey questioned tilting his head curiously. "Aren't you supposed to tell someone when you're hurt?" Mikey frowned looking from Harry to Donnie then back again.

"You are supposed to tell someone," Donnie said. "But, I suspect that this is a little more complicated."

"No one would believe me anyway," Harry huffed, picking up a few more of this things and throwing them in his trunk before slamming the lid shut. "I need to get dressed, I'll see you guys downstairs in a few minutes." Harry said dismissively, turning his back on them.

"But…" Mikey started to say, but Harry heard Donnie shush him, and a moment later the door was shut, leaving Harry in his room alone again.

Letting out a long sigh, Harry sank down onto his bed, putting his head in his hands. He could feel things spiraling out of his control, even as he desperately tried to hold onto it. Harry wasn't ready to talk about what had happened; part of him was still in denial. And there was still the lingering fear that even if he did tell someone, they wouldn't believe him, and he would be sent back to the Dursley's next summer regardless.

Deciding he was going to have to sit Mikey down at explain to him that he couldn't tell anyone, Harry stood up once more and got dressed quickly. Looking in the mirror, he ran a comb through his hair trying to get parts of it to lay flat.

"You are fighting a losing battle," the mirror said and Harry frowned.

"Fine," he huffed and threw the comb down before storming out of his room, stopping just outside it when he saw Raphael leaning against the wall opposite his door. "Uh… Morning." Harry greeted.

"Why don't you want anyone to know?" Raph asked.

"Excuse me?" Harry frowned, closing his door behind him.

"About those bruises you wouldn't let us see," Raph said, narrowing his eyes at Harry.

"Because I don't want anyone to know how clumsy-"

"Don't start that," Raph snapped, stepping forward and pinning Harry to the door. Harry flinched back, his hands raising slightly ready to protect himself if need be. Raph sighed and took a step back. "I know what clumsy looks like, I've grown up with Mikey, and I know what someone looks like when they've had the shit beaten outta them," Raph said.

Harry's hands clenched into fists. "It's none of your business," he snapped. "I never asked you guys to help, I never asked for any of you to start sticking your noses into my life!"

"No, you didn't. But even if you don't admit it, you do need help." Raph said. "I'm not one to force help on people who don't want it, but… I'm here, if ya just want to talk, or yell, or hit something," Raph said shoving his hands into his pockets. "You're a good kid, and Mikey really likes ya, I don't like seeing good kids get hurt."

Harry stared at Raph, not sure how he should respond to that, or what Raph was expecting from him. He wasn't asking questions, he wasn't demanding answers, just offering help, same as the rest of them. All of them were just offering help, and it was getting to be a little overwhelming. Harry didn't know how to process it all.

"Come on, let's go get some breakfast before Mikey snarfs it all," Raph said, thankfully changing the subject, and giving Harry something else to think about now.

"I thought he already ate," Harry said following after Raph as they went downstairs.

"It's Mikey, he'd have first, second and third breakfast if you'd let him." Raph's lips twitched into a smirk when Harry laughed at that.

"Sounds like someone else I know," Harry said, thinking of Ron and his endless appetite.

The two teens made their way down to the pub below, joining the others. Leo and Donnie were absorbed in their own books, while Mikey helped himself to the bit of their breakfast that they had left on their plates. Harry looked around to try and locate Splinter, and was a little surprised to see the former rat was nowhere to be seen.

"Splinter when out to get a few more things," Raph explained, seeing Harry's confused look as he sat down.

"Hiya Harry!" Mikey greeted, setting a plate full of food down in front of him. "Here ya go! I got you breakfast!"

"Thanks, Mikey," Harry said, looking at the overfilled plate.

"No problem, dude." Mikey grinned. "So what are we gonna do today?"

"I've no idea, I've shown all of you nearly everything there is to see here. I was thinking of going back to the quidditch shop again today, so if you wanted to come along…" Harry trailed off.

"No thanks, sports, even of the magical variety, aren't really my thing," Donnie said.

"I'll go with ya," Raph said.

"Me too!" Mikey raised his hand. "When do you think we'll be able to try and fly? Will they teach us that at school too? I wonder if Splinter will buy me a broom…" Mikey babbled on and Harry chuckled.

"Flying is easy, and I'm sure they'll let you join the first years for the lessons. You might not be allowed a broom until you know how to fly it properly though." Harry pointed out, then turned toward the only brother who hadn't given him a response. "What about you, Leo?"

"I was thinking I might wander around on my own a bit today," Leo said.

"You're no fun," Mikey pouted. Leo reached over and ruffled Mikey's hair, causing the younger boy to giggle loudly.

"I can meet you three for lunch later," Leo promised.

"Deal!" Mikey said then looked to Harry again. "So when are we going?"

-x

Even though Harry had pointed out and shown Raph and Mikey the Quidditch shop once before, he was amused by the fact that the two of them could spend so much time in a shop, dedicated to a game they knew next to nothing about.

"What's this for?" Mikey asked, pointing to a set of pads that were on display.

"That's protective gear for the keepers," Harry explained.

"Right, and keepers are the ones who throw that ball around?" Mikey asked curiously.

"There are multiple balls in this game Mikey," Harry said is slight exasperation, as he had told this to the other boy multiple times already. "This game is a lot easier to explain when I can show it to you, and some people still don't really get it until they've seen an actual game."

"So let's go see one," Raph said, coming up behind Harry.

"We can't just go see a game. First of all I don't even know where or when the nearest one is, let alone how we would even get there," Harry said with a sigh.

"For a wizard you don't know that much do you?" Raph snorted.

"I'm only thirteen! AND I've only been in the magical world for two years, I'm still learning a lot of this stuff too," Harry huffed.

"Thirteen?" Mikey asked, wandering over with an oversized keepers helmet on his head. "I thought you were twelve."

"I'm thirteen today," Harry said.

"Oh! It's your mutation day?" Mikey asked excitedly, taking the helmet off his head to stare at Harry.

Raph rolled his eyes swinging his hand and giving Mikey a light smack on the back of the head. "You idiot, he has a birthday, not a mutation day."

"Ow!" Mikey whined, rubbing his head where Raph had hit him. "How was I supposed to know that? We don't have birthdays."

"Because we were hatched," Raph said.

"Yeah, I know that, but we still must have some kind of birthday, or hatch day… or something?" Mikey pouted.

Harry reached over and took the helmet away from Mikey. "I'm sure there's a way for you to find out, and if you can't you can just pick on of your own, it's not like there's some magical rule that says you HAVE to celebrate it on the day you were born, that's just what people do." Harry said, going to put the helmet back.

"Now come on, I'm getting hungry, let's go find a place to eat some lunch," Harry said, herding the other two teens out of the shop.

"Then today is my birthday too!" Mikey declared happily.

Harry laughed. "I'm fine with that, but I think maybe this is something you should talk over with Splinter first," he suggested.

"Besides, we already have our mutation day," Raph pointed out. "You can just celebrate our birthday on that day."

"Yeah, I suppose," Mikey sighed.

"We'll ask Splinter about it when we get back to the Leaky Cauldron," Raph said, ruffling Mikey's hair as they walked. "Now let's go find Leo and Don, see if they're actually going to join us for lunch," Raph said, and looked over his shoulder at Harry. "Any idea where we're going to eat?"

"No idea," Harry shrugged. "Any preferences? Or are we going to find your brothers first before we decide?"

"Here's an idea, you and Mikey head over to that ice cream shop he won't shut up about, I'll found up Leo and Donnie, then meet you two over there," Raph suggested.

"Why can't I come too?" Mikey pouted up at his brother.

"Because you get distracted to easily. I have a pretty good idea where those two might be, so I'll catch up in a few," Raph said and took off before either Mikey or Harry could say anything.

Mikey pouted after him and Harry put a hand on Mikey's arm. "Come on, we can get an ice cream to split while we wait for them."

This appeared to be the right thing to say because Mikey's face lit up; taking Harry by the hand, the ginger boy started pulling Harry through the crowd. They hadn't made it very far when something caught Harry's attention out the corner of his eye. He pulled Mikey to a stop quickly and looked down a side alleyway.

"Hold up a second," Harry said.

"What?" Mikey asked, looking where Harry was staring.

"I thought I saw something…" Harry frowned, moving closer to the alleyway when he saw it again. A large pile of fur curled up in a shadowed corner. "It's that same dog."

"A dog? Where?" Mikey asked eagerly, moving forward into the alley to get a closer look.

"Mikey, wait!" Harry said, hurrying after him.

The dog's ear twitched as it listened to the two boys approaching; it's head shot up quickly and it locked eyes with Mikey, who was closest.

"Here, boy, come here, I won't hurt you," Mikey said holding his hand out toward the large dog.

"Mikey, come on, I don't think this is a good idea," Harry said. He wasn't sure what it was about the dog that made him so nervous, all he knew was that there was something unnatural about it.

The dog's ear twitched again, turning its attention to stare at Harry now. Lowering its head slightly it started slowly crawling forward toward Mikey's outstretched hand.

"That's it, boy, you're a good dog, aren't you?" Mikey smiled, kneeling down and reaching out further to pet the dog. "Oh! You're so soft!" Mikey laughed happily.

Harry continued watching Mikey with the large dog, those gold eyes still locked on him. "I'm still not sure if you're just a dog…" Harry said, slowly lowering himself to kneel on the ground next to Mikey. "You don't seem bad."

The dog inched a little closer, nuzzling its head against Harry's knee. Tentatively Harry reached out to pet the dog too, a small smile pulling at his lips.

"He looks like he's really hungry," Mikey said, running his hand along the dog's back. "I can feel all his bones… that's a bad thing right?" he asked, looking toward Harry.

"It's not a normal thing," Harry said.

Mikey nodded, looking at the dog once more. "We're going to get some lunch, you wanna come with us?" he asked. "We'll get you some good food."

The dog perked up a little at that, letting out a bark and licking Mikey's hand. The red-headed boy laughed again and stood up. "Alright, boy, come on, let's go get some food!" Mikey said.

Harry shook his head at Mikey and slowly stood up, knowing it was pointless to try and argue with the hyper boy.

"I wonder if he belongs to anyone, if not maybe Splinter will let me keep him! The Hogwarts letter said I could bring a pet!" Mikey said, bouncing in excitement.

"The letter didn't say anything about dogs though," Harry pointed out. "I thought you were just allowed to bring an owl, cat or toad."

"Yeah, but maybe they'll let me bring him anyway?" Mikey asked hopefully. "It's not like I can just leave him at home, we haven't found a place to live yet, our home right now is the Leaky cauldron, before that it was the dungeons at Hogwarts, and before THAT we were in New York," Mikey rambled.

"I suppose there's no harm in asking," Harry said with a shrug. "Maybe Splinter could talk to Dumbledore for you, he's made exceptions for people before."

"You really think so?" Mikey asked.

Harry nodded. "I think there's a high possibility that he might." Harry laughed when Mikey punched the air. The two of them made their way out of the alley with the dog trailing behind them.

"Now, it's really busy out here, boy," Mikey said looking at the dog, "you gotta stay close, okay?"

"Yeah, last thing we want to do is lose you in the crowd," Harry said, resting a hand on the dog's head, smiling as the large dog nuzzled against his leg.

"He really seems to like you," Mikey commented.

"Yeah, it's a bit odd, dog's usually don't like me that much at all. At least the few I've had contact with never seemed to like me," Harry said, thinking of aunt Marge's dog, Ripper. The thought of that vile woman had Harry subconsciously rubbing at his arm where there had been a large bruise only a few days ago.

"You okay, Harry?" Mikey asked, looking at his friend in concern.

"I'm fine," Harry said, rubbing at his arm once more before forcing a small smile. "Let's go find your brothers, yeah?"

Mikey nodded, though he didn't look convinced that Harry was truly fine. Resting his hand on the large dog's head, he and Harry turned to make their way toward the ice cream shop. They had only made it a few steps when Harry heard someone shout his name.

Turning around quickly, looking for where the two familiar voices were coming from, Harry spotted Ron and Hermione across the street. The two teens hurried over quickly.

"There you two are! I've been keeping an eye out for you guys all week," Harry said once they had reached where he and Mikey were standing.

"I only just got back from my trip the day before yesterday," Hermione explained. "Everything was so fascinating!"

"She's been going on non-stop about her trip," Ron said with an exasperated roll of his eyes.

"Like you haven't?" Hermione shook her head.

"Only because you've been asking me question after question about the place, and what the witches and wizards were like over there, or if there was any information about ancient egyptian wizards," Ron said, then looked back to Harry and continued on talking to him instead before Hermione could say anything else.

"So what have you been up to mate? Haven't heard a lot from you this summer, I was getting worried, and…" Ron trailed off when he spotted Mikey standing just behind Harry, and seemed to realise that the other red-headed kid had been standing there watching them for some time now. Ron leaned closer to Harry so he could whisper to him. "Harry, I think you've got a fan waiting for an autograph."

Harry looked behind him and laughed. "He's not waiting for an autograph," Harry said. "He's a new friend, I've been showing him and his brothers around."

Mikey was grinning as he looked between Ron and Hermione, he had been having fun listening to their conversation; however, now that all the attention was on him, he seemed to perk up even more.

"Hi! I'm Michelangelo! Are you Harry's friends too? You go to the same school as him?" Mikey said, stepping forward and looking from Ron to Hermione. "Oh! You got a cat! She's so pretty! Can I pet her? I love cats," he said, reaching out and stroking the cat's soft fur.

"What is with the new cat, Hermione?" Harry asked curiously, noticing the flat faced creature now that Mikey had pointed it out.

"Isn't he precious? His name is Crookshanks. The lady at the shop said that no one wanted to buy him. I can't see why, he's such a wonderful cat," Hermione said, practically gushing over the ugly thing in her arms.

"I still say it's a menis! He tried to kill Scabbers!" Ron said.

"He did not," Hermione said, shooting a glare at Ron while Mikey continued petting the orange cat.

"He doesn't look like he'd hurt anyone," Mikey said, looking closely at the loudly purring cat, before glancing back at the black dog that Mikey had decided to adopt. "What do you think, boy?" the black dog came forward and sniffed at the cat. "See, he can't be a bad cat, dog's don't like bad cats," Mikey said matter-of-factly.

"Well you weren't there," Ron snapped, putting his hand over his shirt pocket that seemed to be moving about. "That cat traumatized my pet rat; Scabbers is really sick and he doesn't need the added stress of that stupid cat around."

Mikey frowned as he stared at Ron, looking a little confused. "If you're pet is sick, shouldn't he have stayed home?" Mikey questioned. "Oh! I know! Why don't we bring him to my brother Donnie? He's really good at fixing things up, I bet he could tell you what would make your pet feel better. Or maybe Splinter could, since he's been a rat before…" Mikey trailed off, seeming to not notice the strange looks he was getting from both Ron and Hermione.

"Are you mental?" Ron asked, staring at Mikey like he was some kind of insane person that had been loose on the streets.

"No, I'm not metal, I'm flesh like you. Though I used to be scales," Mikey grinned and Harry coughed to hide his laugh. Ron continued to look perplexed, his hand lowering away from his pocket from where he had been trying to keep Scabbers calm and safe.

The low growling drew everyone's attention quickly to the black dog, which had its teeth bared, gold eyes staring at Ron as it slowly started approaching him.

"Whoa! Easy boy," Mikey said, trying to calm the dog down.

What followed next, Harry could only describe as pure chaos. Mikey tried to grab onto the black dog, missing it when it lunged forward at Ron; Scabbers let out a terrified series of high pitched squeaks as he clawed his way out of Ron's pocket and scurried off down the street; and the black dog took off after the rat.

"Scabbers!" Ron shouted. "Don't you hurt him you stupid mutt!" he yelled as he darted after the dog.

"No! Bad dog! You don't eat other people's pets!" Mikey yelled taking off the same time as Ron.

"Oh perfect," Harry said, taking off after the group, Hermione not far behind him.

-x

Donnie was sitting at the table outside the ice cream place, where they were supposed to be meeting Mikey and Harry. He had two books open on the table in front of him, one of them his new magical theory book that Splinter had bought him, the second much older. The title of it had long since been worn away, however, Donnie had read the book from cover to cover multiple times already, and was only using it now as a cross reference.

Glancing up from his books, Donnie looked over to where Raph was sat across from him, a sour expression on his face. "It's not as bad as you think," Donnie said.

"No one asked you, Donnie," Raph snapped.

"Don't take your anger out on me, I'm not the one who took off and left Mikey alone," Donnie snapped back, closing his books.

"It wasn't like that! I told ya, he was with Harry, and they were supposed to meet us here!" Raph growled.

"Harry is unfamiliar with how distractible Mikey can be," Donnie pointed out. "I'm just saying, you leaving the two of them alone probably wasn't one of your better judgment moments."

"Shut it, you're starting to sound like Leo," Raph said, turning his back on his brother.

Donnie sighed and turned his attention back toward his book; he had never been the best at dealing with Raph's temper, wisely choosing to avoid his hot headed brother when he was irritable.

Silence continued between the two brothers for a long moment before it grew too much for Raph to handle and he asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for the last half an hour. "You don't think they got in some kind of trouble, do you?"

"It's Mikey, what do you think," Donnie answered without looking up.

"Damn it!" Raph punched the table, fist remaining clenched. "Why did that knuckle head have to go runnin off like he did, this ain't like the sewers back home! This place is a lot bigger, and weirder, he could be in real trouble or-"

"Or you're over-thinking things," Donnie interrupted. "Splinter and Leo have gone to look for them, and they should be back soon."

"What makes you so sure, smarty pants?" Raph huffed.

"Because they're coming this way," Donnie said, pointing down the street to where he had seen Splinter and Leo heading their way. Donnie started putting his books away, sure that now that the youngest of their family had been found, they would be heading back to the Leaky Cauldron.

Raph stood up from his own seat, looking in the direction that Donnie had pointed, and Donnie could see Raph's shoulders sag in relief. The two of them waited there for their father and brothers to reach them. Donnie stood up as well, frowning as he watched the group approach.

"Something serious must have happened," Raph commented, and it was clear to Donnie that his brother had noticed something was off too. It might have been the serious expression on their father's face, or the way Mikey walked with his head slightly lowered; or the scowl on Leo's face. Whatever had happened, Donnie knew that their father would be speaking to all of them once they got back to their rooms.

"My sons," Splinter said, once he had reached them, "It would appear that your brother has found himself a new pet," he said, and all attention turned toward the black dog that had been walking beside Mikey.

"A dog?" Raph asked. "Mikey can hardly take care of himself, how is he gonna take care of a dog?" Raph snorted.

"Raph," Leo snapped.

"What? It's true, Mikey, he-"

"Has chosen to take on this new responsibility, and I have allowed him the chance," Splinter said sternly. "Now, let us go back, and we will get some lunch and talk about what happened today," he said, placing a gentle hand on Mikey's shoulder.

The young teen hadn't said anything the whole time and Raph frowned as he looked at his brother. He looked upset, and confused, like he could start crying at any second but was stubbornly refusing to. Raph's hands clenched into fists as he felt a familiar anger building up inside him, and he swore whoever had caused his baby brother to look like that, he was going to make them pay.

-x

The Leaky Cauldron had a lot more people in it than it had the whole passed week, and Harry wanted nothing more than to copy his friends and go hide in his room. Though that was mostly due to the fact that he was angry with Ron at the moment, and really didn't want to be sat next to the red-head during dinner. Ron, however, made things a little easier, by completely ignoring Harry and Hermione as he took a seat further down the table and helped himself to the food laid out.

The chase through Diagon Alley hadn't been fun, and it had taken nearly thirty minutes before Mikey had caught up with the black dog and tackled it to the ground, while Ron had grabbed Scabbers before the dog had bitten him in two.

Harry could understand why Ron had been upset, but the red-head had been way out of line to take his anger out on Mikey when the younger teen had tried to apologise for the actions of the stray dog they had found that day. Harry had come to Mikey's defence, deciding that it wasn't fair for Ron to be blaming him for what happened.

A soft hand touching his arm and Harry snapped out of his thoughts, looking toward Hermione questioningly.

"Ron will come around," she said softly.

"He's just being a git," Harry said. "I get why he's upset, I really do, but Mikey had been right. If Scabbers is that sick, maybe he should give him to his mum to look after this school year?" Harry sighed. "It might be safer for Scabbers that way too."

"I agree, but that would be like someone telling you that you should leave Hedwig somewhere while you went off to school. It would be horrible for you to be so far away from her." Hermione pointed out. "And I'm not saying Ron was right to yell at your friend either, I'm just saying, that Ron will calm down and come to his senses, eventually."

"I hope so," Harry sighed. "I wanted to introduce you both to my new friends."

"Are these the same friends you couldn't tell us about before?" Hermione questioned and Harry nodded. "That Mikey seems like a strange one."

"They're all a bit strange," Harry smiled.

"What was he saying earlier, about him having scales before? Did he have some kind of sickness?" Hermione frowned. "Is that why you couldn't tell us about them?"

Shaking his head Harry played around with his food a bit, he wasn't particularly hungry that evening, but he also knew that if he didn't eat enough now, he would regret it later tonight. "They weren't sick, and honestly I still don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you about them." Harry admitted.

"But they're here…" Hermione frowned.

"Yeah, but where they come from, why they were in hiding before, why I couldn't talk about them, I don't know how much of that is supposed to stay a secret," Harry explained. "I can take you upstairs to meet them after dinner if you'd like, I want to check on Mikey anyway."

Looking around the table at the Weasley family, and down toward Ron, who was sitting, ignoring everyone as he gave Scabbers the rat tonic that he had bought at the pet shop earlier that day.

"Yeah, I'd like to meet them," Hermione said, looking back at Harry, who smiled at her. "I'd also like an update about what you've been doing with your whole summer. You couldn't have been spending the whole time with them here. How was your time at the Dursleys?"

"I'd rather not talk about the Dursleys," Harry said flatly, stabbing a piece of potato on his plate a little harder than he had meant to. He still wasn't sure what he was going to do about his family, and the fact that he had run away from home. However, as of right now, that was a problem for next summer; he had nearly a whole year to think about what he was going to do, or where he was going to go.

Hermione thankfully dropped the topic of the Dursleys fairly easily, and the two of them got through the rest of dinner talking about her trip, and what classes she was hoping to take in the upcoming year at school.

Ron was the first of them to finish his dinner, standing from the end of the table, where he was sat, and holding Scabbers close. "I'm going to bed," he announced.

"Ron, wait up." Harry stood quickly and hurried after him, glancing behind him for a moment when he heard Hermione get up from her seat as well.

"Leave me alone," Ron said grumpily.

"Are you still mad about this afternoon?" Harry asked.

Ron paused only to throw a glare at Harry before continuing on his way up the stairs. Harry frowned, torn between going after him, or doing as his best friend requested and leaving him alone. Huffing in frustration, he and Hermione headed upstairs as well.

"That the jerk who yelled at Mikey?" Raph asked as Harry and Hermione reached the hallway, and they saw him standing outside the room he and his brother were sharing, leaning against the wall.

"He's upset because his pet rat was almost eaten today," Hermione said.

"So? It ain't like Mikey was the one who tried to eat it," Raph said, pushing off the wall. "I don't like people who upset my baby brother."

"I really don't think Ron meant to upset your brother," Hermione said.

"I don't care if he meant it or not, he better stay away from Mikey," Raph said, narrowing his eyes.

"Ron isn't going to go after your brother," Hermione said. "He might have a bad attitude at the moment, but he's not that kind of person to bully someone."

Raph raised an eyebrow at Hermione, but nodded once before looking toward Harry again. "If you're here for Mikey, he's meditating with Master Splinter right now, I'll send him over to your room when he's finished."

"I actually was just bringing my friend here to meet all of you," Harry said.

"Why?" Raph frowned.

"Because she's my friend, and you guys are too so…" Harry trailed off.

Raph shook his head and sighed before pushing off the wall. "I really don't get this whole 'meeting people' thing. But come on, Leo and Don should be free, and more interested in this than I am."

Harry smiled and moved to follow after Raph, only to have Hermione pull on his arm and stop him. "Are you sure about this, Harry? He doesn't seem like a very nice guy." Hermione whispered.

"I don't think he's as bad as he acts…" Harry said, thinking back to the conversation that he and Raph had had that morning.

"You two comin' or not?" Raph asked impatiently as he stood in the doorway to his room.

"It'll be fine, Hermione," Harry reassured, taking her and and pulling her into the room, walking past Raph.

The room they entered was bigger than Harry's, as it had to house four teenage boys and their father.

Donnie was sat on one of the beds, an assortment of books spread out around him, as well as some parchment that he was scribbling notes onto. Leo was sat in one of the chairs, a book of his own held in his hand; blue eyes glanced up at them as they entered.

"Harry," Leo greeted, placing his book aside and standing up. "Is everything okay?" he asked, crossing the room, his eyes trailing over Harry as if searching for any new injuries.

"Everything's fine, I just wanted you guys to meet one of my best friends, Hermione Granger," Harry said, motioning to the bushy-haired girl just behind him.

Leo blinked in surprise, looking toward her before smiling. "A pleasure," he said politely, though he seemed almost as confused as Raph had been about why Harry wanted them to meet this girl.

"I'm sorry for intruding like this, I was just curious about Harry's new secret friends. Harry doesn't really keep secrets from us, so this was kind of strange, though he said it was for a good reason," Hermione said.

"Oh, he doesn't keep secrets from you?" Raph questioned skeptically, looking from Hermione over to Harry.

"Well, I'm sure there's some things he hasn't told me or Ron, but he doesn't keep anything important from us," Hermione clarified.

"Well, good to know that he tells you everything that's really important," Raph said, still giving Harry a look.

"Yes, she's my best friend," Harry said. "And since you guys are my friends too, AND tomorrow you're going to be starting at Hogwarts, I thought it might be nice if you knew more than one person there."

Leo nodded. "It would be nice to have more connections. So, Hermione, how long have you been in the wizarding world?"

Once a conversation had been started, and steered away from things Harry may or may not have been telling his friends, things went smoothly from there. Hermione had made fast friends with Donnie, the two of them talking about whatever it was that Donnie had been working on.

Harry wandered off with Raph and Leo to show them how to play exploding snap, and while he wished that Ron was there too, Harry was sure that Ron would eventually come around and be willing to join them.

TBC

I know I haven't been updating as often as I probably should, considering that I am no longer working. However, I have been in the UK since September, and I'll be returning to the States in two weeks to finish planning my wedding for next month.

That being said! I do have multiple chapters for other fanfics finished. Which I am hoping to have all of them posted by the new year. ^_^ and perhaps a couple new fics as well, depending on how well I can work out the plot line.

Also, it's been awhile since I've mentioned this, but if anyone wants to keep up with why I don't post as often, instead of sitting waiting for the next chapter of whatever fic you are following. Feel free to look me up on Facebook! I am under Celtic Kitsune.

www. facebook celtic. kitsune. 3


End file.
